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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. Who calls out 'Want a ride, sister?' to pretty girls?

2. What is needed for a person to 'come alive again'?

3. In summer, what happens to Algiers?

4. What misconception of himself does the artist have?

5. What will happen if people keep silent?

Short Essay Questions

1. From information in Camus' text, what do we understand Tipasa to be?

2. What technique does Camus use to convey the impression that Tipasa is a peaceful and happy place?

3. What is the essay 'Helen's Exile' concerned with?

4. What is ironic and unexpected about Camus' description of the way the Algerian people enjoy summer?

5. What is the overall impression the reader has of Oran and its people?

6. Of what does Camus accuse the Marxists in Section III of The Artist and his Time?

7. What is peculiar about the built environment of Oran, according to Camus?

8. Explain the attraction the desert has for thinking human beings.

9. What lies 'beyond the yellow walls of Oran'?

10. Comment on the title of the essay 'Helen's Exile'.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the ways in which Kafka's and Dostoevsky's heroes illustrate the idea of The Absurd. In your essay, you will need to show that you understand Camus' rationale for using these heroes as exemplars of his thought. Mention the ways in which the heroes are similar in their attitudes to the world and their fates, and ways in which they are different. Refer only to what Camus says about them. Do not use the novels themselves as reference material.

Essay Topic 2

What is your attitude to Camus' definition of the absurd? Do you think his argument is valid? What is your opinion of the examples he gives? Would you be likely to argue from a different point of view? Why or why not? Call your essay 'My response th the absurd'.

Essay Topic 3

Comment on the implications of what Camus calls the 'hiatus between what we fancy we know and what we really know'. You might like to focus on the famous example of Galileo and the Inquisition or cite other instances in which there was a gap between what humans thought they knew and what actually was the case ('flat' earth or the 'impossibility of stones falling from the sky'). As well as examining the implications of this hiatus, consider solutions to the problem.

(see the answer keys)

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