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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 is one book Mel writes soon after producing Though I Walk Through the Valley?

2. Whom does Mel meet around the end of his senior year in high school?

3. When does Mel's attraction to men finally lessen?

4. Why does Mel think he was not being unfair to Lyla to marry her?

5. What does Darrel do that made Mel think about the boy obsessively?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mel describe himself as an adolescent?

2. What is Mel's memories of a boy named Darrel at camp?

3. Describe how Mel and Lyla met.

4. What do White and Lyla do when they return from their honeymoon?

5. How does Mel try to avoid being discovered as being gay?

6. Why does White decide to go to Fuller Theological Seminary?

7. What does Mel say about whom he might blame for his homosexuality and his feeling miserable as an adolescent?

8. What was Lyla like in middle school?

9. What happens to Mel's younger brother Denny?

10. Who is Peter W.? What does White write about the young man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Often titles reveal much about one or more aspects of a novel. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the purpose of a title? How closely related to a major theme(s) of a book do you think a title should be? Or should it be?

2. The phrase Stranger at the Gate appears in the Christian Bible in the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Research the story and write why you think White named his book after that story.

3. If you were the writer of Stranger at the Gate and your editor said the title must be changed, what would you choose? Why?

4. How do you feel when you have finished reading a book and you still do not understand the meaning of the title in relation to the book?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. What do you think are the characteristics of a successful work of non-fiction/memoir?

2. Analyze and discuss Stranger at the Gate based upon the criteria you decide upon in #1 and judge if Stranger at the Gate is a successful work of non-fiction/memoir.

3. Is Stranger at the Gate a book you would recommend to a friend? Why or why not? Explain.

4. Can a novel be successful and yet many readers not enjoy it? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Define irony in literary terms. Discuss the irony of the situation whereby Mel White is a homosexual and works to promote the agendas of men such as Falwell who were rabidly anti-gay. Discuss two other incidences of irony in Stranger at the Gate.

2. Define symbolism in literary terms. Discuss the use of and meaning of five symbols found in Stranger at the Gate. Symbols are inherent in any work of literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, though in non-fiction, the use of symbols is not always intentional.

3. Discuss the use of foreshadowing in non-fiction. What is the purpose of foreshadowing in non-fiction? Cite 3 examples of foreshadowing and how it is indicates events to come in Stranger at the Gate. Can you as the reader see how what Mel White writes about his early life foreshadows what will happen in his later life?

(see the answer keys)

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