View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the festival organizer name as the reason he throws the festival in Mexico?
(a) Beautiful women.
(b) Great weather.
(c) No taxes.
(d) Cheap drugs.

2. Where did Robert's ring lost at the produce store end up being found?
(a) In the produce bag.
(b) In Arthur's pocket.
(c) Among the mushrooms in the bin.
(d) On the floor of the store.

3. The final jury that awards the prize for which Arthur is nominated is composed of 12 what?
(a) Audience members.
(b) High school students.
(c) Professors.
(d) Poets.

4. In the front hallway of Arthur's hotel in Mexico, there is an enormous portrait of which artist?
(a) Diego Rivera.
(b) Frida Kahlo.
(c) Salvador Dali.
(d) Pablo Picasso.

5. How long had Arthur and Robert known one another before they went on a road trip to Mexico together?
(a) One year.
(b) Three months.
(c) One month.
(d) Two weeks.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what decade of life had Arthur Less been when his work was first published?

2. On what holiday in 1987 did Arthur Less meet his one-time rival Carlos?

3. While Arthur had assumed that Mexico City would be like Phoenix on a smoggy day, what city does he say it is actually like once he sees it?

4. With what group of artists and writers was Arthur Less once associated?

5. The narrator describes the octopuses at the market as being "coiled into" (55) what objects?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Arthur and Robert meet?

2. What is the significance of Arthur's temporary loss of the ring given to him by Robert on their fifth anniversary?

3. What other two prize ceremonies are called to Arthur's mind at the awards ceremony in Italy?

4. What epiphany does Arthur have about heterosexual men during his search for his lost ring in the produce section?

5. Why does the behavior of the Mexico City festival's organizer perplex Arthur?

6. Why does Arthur automatically lie when he is asked whether he has ever been to Mexico?

7. What are Arthur's feelings about the works of the science fiction writer H. H. H. Mandern?

8. What is Arthur's reaction to Carlos's suggestion that he needs to "get an edge" (6) in order to decrease his level of vulnerability?

9. What is the nature of the current relationship between Arthur and Robert?

10. What is Arthur's literary agent's reaction to Arthur's latest novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,102 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample