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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. In Chapter 4, where did the narrator break up with his previous girlfriend?

2. What is the name of the company for whom the narrator's father works?

3. Who is the woman whom the narrator has a longer affair with than most?

4. What does the narrator's mother give the cleaning lady for lunch?

5. What kind of grades does the young narrator make?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator's mother do to him when he is "bad?" How does he react?

2. Why does the young Alex believe he has cancer?

3. Who does the narrator's father hold up as someone to emulate? Why?

4. About what do the narrator's parents coddle him regarding his knee in Chapter 4?

5. What is the one meaningful conversation the narrator speaks of having with his sister in Chapter 3?

6. What were the narrator's father's ambitions for him growing up?

7. What frustration does the narrator express in Chapter 4 about his job and his parents' view of it?

8. What do Alex and his parents argue about after their dinner in Chapter 4?

9. Who is the shikse who came to the young Alex's family's home? Why?

10. What does Alex remark about his father's bowel movements in Chapter 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of Guilt/Shame in the novel. How does this relate to the narrator's feelings of rebellion? Where does this emotion resonate the most in the narrator? How does this affect his actions in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the Oedipus Complex as it applies to the main character of Portnoy's Complaint. What emotions and experiences support this theme?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the phrase "Living a Jewish Joke." How does this resonate as an important element of Portnoy's Complaint? How does the ending of the novel revisit this line?

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