What significance do you attach to Fitzgerald’s choice of Honoria as a name for Charlie’s daughter?

Name: ________________________________ Date: ____________________

Exam 3

Please answer all questions completely in a separate piece of paper. Do not rewrite the question.

When answering, begin answering with part of the question. Use complete sentences and

examples from the book (10 pts each).

“Babylon Revisited Questions”

1. Babylon is an ancient city famous for hedonistic behavior and luxury. In what ways is

Charlie “revisiting” Babylon? Identify details in the first section of the story that contrast

the way things are in Paris upon Charlie’s return and how they were three years earlier.

Note both literal changes and changes in perception.

2. What significance do you attach to Fitzgerald’s choice of Honoria as a name for Charlie’s

daughter? In what ways is her age and the fact that she is “an individual with a code of

her own” (pg. 986, para. 2) important in this story?

3. What does Fitzgerald let us know about Helen? Besides being Honoria’s mother, in what

ways does her character contribute to the story’s themes? Why is she described as having

“escaped to a grave in Vermont” (pg. 984 para. 1)?

4. Analyze the character of Marion in section III. How does Fitzgerald describe her

appearance, her actions, her relationship with her husband? Why is it “necessary for her

to believe in tangible villainy and a tangible villain” (pg. 989, para. 1)?

5. What role do Lorraine and Duncan play in the story? Pay special attention to section II,

where they first meet up with Charlie.

6. Explain the irony in the following exchange between Paul and Charlie:

“I heard that you lost a lot in the crash.” “I did,” and he added grimly, “but I lost

everything I wanted in the boom.” (pg. 994, para. 1)

7. Were you surprised by the ending? Do you agree with Marion’s decision? Cite specific

passages to explain your response.

“How It Feels to Be Colored Me Questions”

8. In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston says, “I am not tragically colored. No, I do

not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife” (pg. 941 para.

4).Discuss this quote in context of Hurston as a writer and how she presents herself in

this work.

9. In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston says, “At certain times, I have no race, I

am me. . . I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am

merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries” . Think about this

quote and what does she mean by it and how it may apply to you.

10. Similarly, Hurston, in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” refers to herself as a “brown bag

of miscellany propped against a wall. . . in company with other bags, white, red, and

yellow” . She goes on to say that when the contents of these bags are dumped out and

then re-filled, the contents are not “altered” much” (pg 943). What does she mean by

this? How is she using this metaphor? And, for what purpose?

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