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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. How many cycles of treatment has Vivian endured after her ultrasound?

2. What poem does Vivian quote in her final coherent lines of the play?

3. What does Jason want to give Vivian to keep her hydrated?

4. Why does Vivian wander the stage at the end of Scene 12?

5. What does Susie tell Vivian about her cancer?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Vivian's pain management have an effect on the play?

2. Why does Vivian shut her own eyelids and cross her arms over her chest?

3. What is the irony in Vivian's desire for personal contact with Jason?

4. Why does Vivian allow Susie to call her “sweetheart?”

5. Why is Vivian so upset at her imaginary lecture being interrupted by Susie?

6. What is Salvation Anxiety?

7. What is the joke that makes Vivian laugh when Susie gives her morphine?

8. Why does Vivian make her bed alarm go off in the middle of the night?

9. What is the parallel between Vivian and Jason's careers?

10. How do Jason and Susie's views of Vivian compare and contrast?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain Vivian's relationship with words. How did words become important to her? Why are words important to her? How does Vivian use her relationship with words during her struggle with cancer? Do words help or hinder her during her treatment?

Essay Topic 2

Define characterization. Give at least one example of each type of characterization used in Wit to describe Vivian. Write a brief character biography of Vivian.

Essay Topic 3

Define theme. Identify one theme of the play. How does Edson express this theme throughout the play? What point is she trying to make through this theme?

(see the answer keys)

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