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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 religion does Kristeva say Christianity emerged from?

2. What does Kristeva say God did not want Adam to become?

3. Unlike Jews, Kristeva says Christians disregard what?

4. Why does the Bible forbid eating camels, according to Kristeva's reading?

5. Freud believed his Oedipus complex produces a kind of mental archetype for what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Kristeva say the impurity phobia serves as a metaphor for society?

2. How does Kristeva say Christianity and Judaism differ in the thoughts of impurity?

3. What does Kristeva say are the two prevailing interpretations of the laws regarding ritual impurity in the Old Testament?

4. According to traditional beliefs in Christianity, how does Adam's original sin taint human freedoms?

5. What are the two stages in which Kristeva says the quest for the "Other" breaks down?

6. According to class theory, how are the drives of an individual divided?

7. What does Kristeva say happens when one stops trying to seek out the "Other"?

8. What does Kristeva say about how fears and desires are formed in young children?

9. How does social status play a role in purity customs in India?

10. What reason does Kristeva give for why Christianity disregards the Levitical law?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the concept of the "zero-state" in young children. What does Kristeva mean when she talks about the zero state? What happens when a child starts to come out of the zero state? What are some of the fears and desires that a young, pre-cognitive child might have? How do the fears and desires sync up with Freud's model of the Oedipal triangle? How do they go against it?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role of Sigmund Freud in the book. How does Kristeva make use of his ideas? How do her ideas relate to his? How are they different? Describe two instances where she explains his view on a subject and expands upon it.

Essay Topic 3

Explore the theme of language throughout the book. What does Kristeva seem to think about language and how it can be used? What reason does Kristeva give for why the abject exists outside of language? How can people relate to the abject if not through language? What do you think is the purpose of trying to explain the abject through an essay if it can cannot be felt through words?

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