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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 happens to General Sash during the ceremony?

2. Whom does Ruller give a dime to?

3. Who helps Old Dudley up the stairs?

4. Who is Madam Zoleeda?

5. What disappoints Old Dudley at the end of the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Old Dudley think about New York?

2. Why is Hazel Motes reluctant to befriend Enoch Emery?

3. What dismays Ruby about Rufus choosing collard greens as his something “special” that she will make for him?

4. How is the General dying at the commencement a form of irony?

5. Why does Rayber change barbers?

6. Why is Ruller afraid something bad is about to happen?

7. Why is Ruller so proud to bring the turkey home to his family?

8. What does Mrs. Willerton wish that she had more time for?

9. Why doesn’t the hitchhiker ride with Mr. Shiflet when he pulls over for him?

10. How do the boys invade the farm, despite the widow asking them to leave in “A Circle in the Fire”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many small subplots in “The Peeler” that all connect to Hazel Motes as he is walking through town. This story discusses many details of what life was like for many different people on different societal and moral levels. Why does Hazel Motes follow the red-haired girl and the blind man? Why does Hazel think of Leora, his father’s voyeurism and his mother’s puritanical beliefs? What is haunting Hazel Motes?

Essay Topic 2

Many stories in this collection have an unmarried mother or sister and a son or brother carrying for the man. In how many stories in this collection does the author use a widow and an unmarried son as her main characters? What do they represent?

Essay Topic 3

Religion

a. How does religion play a role in short stories in The Complete Stories?

b. What religious motifs arise again and again in O’Connor’s work?

(see the answer keys)

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