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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. What had the Monkey once been?

2. What does the narrator's father warn Morty that he'll turn his son into?

3. Where was Kay from?

4. Where did the narrator go on a trip with the Monkey?

5. Where does Smolka go on to be a professor as an adult?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the title of Chapter 5? What does this refer to?

2. What does the narrator say about the Monkey's life story in Chapter 4?

3. What happened on the trip with the Monkey that began to change their relationship?

4. What does Alex suggest that the Monkey says are his worst sins?

5. What story does Alex tell of the Monkey with the married couple?

6. Who does Alex describe as the first of the shikses he had a relationship with? What attracted him to her?

7. How did Alex feel about having "a real" relationship with the Monkey?

8. What does the memories of the Monkey conjure in Alex's memory in Chapter 4?

9. When do the narrator's doubts about the Monkey reach a climax?

10. What does the narrator retell about the burlesque show in Chapter 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the predominant metaphors in Portnoy's Complaint? How does the author "set up" these metaphors? How do these major metaphors recur in the text? Define "metaphor" in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the historical context of when this novel was published. How did this time period affect the reception of the novel and its subject matter? Could this novel have been received so well ten years prior? Why? Why not?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the narrator's experiences of sexuality in America to those of his experiences in Israel. What significance is implied by these differences?

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