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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 does Tarwater dig in “You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead”?

2. Who steps out of the black car in “The Displaced Person”?

3. Where does Calhoun find them when he arrives to visit someone in “The Partridge Festival”?

4. What does Dr. Block tell Asbury?

5. What does Sheppard buy the boys?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Thomas hide the gun in the guest room?

2. Under what assumption does the daughter in “Good Country People” and mother trust the Bible salesman?

3. Why does the conman steal the daughter’s artificial leg?

4. Why doesn’t the grandson in “The Artificial Nigger” ever want to travel to the city again?

5. How are the two teenage girls in “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” hypocritical?

6. What happens to Mary Fortune?

7. Who is supposed to shoot the bull in “Greanleaf”?

8. Why is Mary George irritated with her brother?

9. Why does Calhoun visit his great-aunts?

10. Why does the college girl in “Revelation” have a seizure?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In “Enoch and the Gorilla”, Enoch is jubilant, convinced his outer appearance has changed him inside as well, but when he attempts to befriend a nearby couple, they are terrified of his realistic gorilla look and they run off screaming. What is O’Connor suggesting happens when people change their outward appearance in an attempt to change who they are? What other stories in this collection have characters who attempt at changing physical means to change internally?

Essay Topic 2

Racism

a. How does O’Connor write about racism in the South?

b. Who is O’Connor the most critical of in regards to racism?

Essay Topic 3

O’Connor includes a lot of description of the natural world in her writing. What do the detailed descriptions of skies, sunsets, top lines of trees, and clouds indicate about the author? How many sunsets are depicted with exceptional clarity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 610 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample