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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Felix arrives at Oscar's apartment for the poker game, the other players decide to do what?

2. What garbage dominates the apartment at the beginning of the play?

3. Why is Oscar's wife angry with him?

4. Why does Oscar say that Felix can stay with him?

5. After the other players leave, how does Oscar try to comfort Felix?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Oscar offer to let Felix move in?

2. After Felix and Oscar argue in the second act, what does Oscar offer as a solution to help Felix?

3. What is the climax of the play, as demonstrated in the final scene?

4. What are the poker players generally trying to do when Felix arrives?

5. Describe the condition of Oscar's apartment at the beginning of the play. What does this say about Oscar?

6. What are each of the Pigeon sisters' marriages like, and why do they end?

7. Why doesn't Oscar and his friends want Felix to go to the bathroom alone, and why is this humorous?

8. What does Murray say as he leaves the second poker game, and why is this ironic?

9. Why do the poker players think that Felix is in danger of hurting himself?

10. What happens to Felix the morning before the play begins, and why is this especially traumatic to Felix?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

List your first impressions of Oscar and Felix in the first scene, and analyze whether these impressions prove to be correct.

Essay Topic 2

Explain why you think Felix is so compulsive about neatness and order. What does this gain for him?

Essay Topic 3

Define characterization in your own words, and describe in detail Neil Simon's methods of developing characterizations.

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