CLEP Humanities : Literature

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

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Example Questions

Example Question #4 : Drama

Willy Loman is the main character of the play __________.

Possible Answers:

Death of a Salesman

Mourning Becomes Electra

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Skin of Our Teeth

Correct answer:

Death of a Salesman

Explanation:

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1949. Its protagonist, Willy Loman, became a classic character of the American theater, thanks to Miller's story about the aged salesman and his fraught relationships with his family. Loman's struggles with work and disappointment in his sons provide the emotional depth for the character.

Example Question #5 : Drama

Which play allegorizes the "Red Scare" of the 1950s by telling the story of the Salem witch trials of the 1690s?

Possible Answers:

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Devils

The Crucible

Waiting for Lefty

A View From the Bridge

Correct answer:

The Crucible

Explanation:

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, at the height of the second "Red Scare," when figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy were investigating Communism in America and targeting artists. Miller chose the Salem witch trials as a similar moment in American history when wild accusations generated by fear were prevalent. Miller himself was cited for "contempt of Congress" for refusing to name people he had seen at meetings of the Communist Party.

Example Question #6 : Drama

What is the common English title of the French play about three people stuck in a room from which they cannot escape?

Possible Answers:

The Possessed

No Exit

The Misanthrope

Waiting for Godot

Act Without Words

Correct answer:

No Exit

Explanation:

Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit takes place entirely in one room, featuring three people who cannot leave. Reflecting some of Sartre's philosophy, the characters slowly realize that they are dead and in hell. The play closes with the famous final line "Hell is other people."

Example Question #171 : Literature

What is the title of the play that features the characters learning the plot from the Director as the play unfolds?

Possible Answers:

The Zoo Story

Six Characters in Search of an Author

The Bald Soprano

Waiting for Godot

The Birthday Party

Correct answer:

Six Characters in Search of an Author

Explanation:

Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, which first premiered in 1922, was one of the first works in the genre known as "The Theater of the Absurd." Pirandello's metatheatrical work featured all of the characters in the play openly asking the director how the plot would unfold. Such groundbreaking work would prove influential to the next generation of playwrights, including Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, and Eugene Ionesco.

Example Question #172 : Literature

What play features a former high school football star struggling with injuries, alcoholism, and his dysfunctional family?

Possible Answers:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

The Crucible

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Iceman Cometh

Waiting for Lefty

Correct answer:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Explanation:

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof all takes place in one bedroom on an old plantation, the former childhood bedroom of the main character Brick. Brick is dealing with an unhappy marriage to his wife Maggie, his overbearing parents, and a debilitating injury through alcohol abuse. Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play in 1955.

Example Question #173 : Literature

Thornton Wilder's play Our Town is notable for featuring __________.

Possible Answers:

no written dialogue, and only calling for actors to pantomime scenes

a language made up by the author

three overlapping scenes that can be produced in any order

a cemetery portrayed by actors sitting in chairs

an actor playing male and female roles

Correct answer:

a cemetery portrayed by actors sitting in chairs

Explanation:

Thornton Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1938 for Our Town, and the play featured many peculiar staging and narrative features. The three acts of the play take place in 1901, 1904, and 1913. The narrator of the play is the "Stage Manager," who often inserts himself into the story as various characters. No scenery or props are used. Most strikingly, the final act takes place in the town's cemetery, with actors portraying the dead by sitting in chairs.

Example Question #3 : Identifying Titles, Authors, Or Schools Of Drama

Who was the playwright that wrote the plays Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and The Iceman Cometh?

Possible Answers:

Henrik Ibsen

Tennessee Williams

Arthur Miller

August Strindberg

Eugene O'Neill

Correct answer:

Eugene O'Neill

Explanation:

Eugene O'Neill was a landmark figure in American theater, as he introduced the realism of European writers like Strindberg, Ibsen, and Chekhov to America. His plays Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and The Iceman Cometh all have become standard parts of repertoire for many American theater companies. O'Neill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.

Example Question #2 : Identifying Titles, Authors, Or Schools Of Drama

The playwright who wrote Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, and Speed-the-Plow was __________.

Possible Answers:

Christopher Durang

David Mamet

Edward Albee

Sam Shepard

Arthur Kopit

Correct answer:

David Mamet

Explanation:

David Mamet came out of the Chicago theater scene in the late 1970s with a distinctive, fully-formed style with short, snappy dialogue referred to as "Mamet-speak," demonstrated in early work like 1976's American Buffalo. He was immediately considered one of the leading playwrights in America, with his Glengarry Glen Ross winning a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984, and Speed-the-Plow winning the same award in 1988.

Example Question #4 : Identifying Titles, Authors, Or Schools Of Drama

The playwright who authored The Children's Hour, A Watch on the Rhine, and The Little Foxes is __________.

Possible Answers:

Larraine Hansberry

Lillian Hellman

Clifford Odets

Sophie Treadwell

Eugene O'Neill

Correct answer:

Lillian Hellman

Explanation:

Lillian Hellman had an instant Broadway success in 1934 with her first play, The Children's Hour, which also caused controversy over its themes of lesbianism, false accusations, and suicide. The pattern would continue throughout her career, as 1939's The Little Foxes and 1941's Watch on the Rhine both dealt with anti-semitism in America. Both plays were so successful that they were turned into movies with Hellman screenplays.

Example Question #3 : Identifying Titles, Authors, Or Schools Of Drama

Who was the Irish playwright who detailed his time in the Irish Republican Army in his plays?

Possible Answers:

Patrick Kavanaugh

Brendan Behan

Martin McDonagh

Samuel Beckett

Dylan Thomas

Correct answer:

Brendan Behan

Explanation:

Brendan Behan joined the IRA as a teenager in the 1940s, and because of crimes he committed against the British government, was imprisoned while still young. Upon being pardoned in 1947, Behan left the IRA behind and began a full-time literary career. An icon of Irish literature, Behan's first two plays, 1954's The Quare Fellow and 1958's An Giall (The Hostage), both depicted life in an Irish prison like the ones in which Behan was held.

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