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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. Why does Jesse place blame on his dead brothers?

2. What happens to the tall, dark girl in one of her dreams?

3. When Elizabeth is a girl, how does she startle the people of Winesburg?

4. What does the doctor read to the girl in the winter?

5. Where does George find Louise when he decides to answer her letter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is George careful when he counts his money on the train?

2. What does Jesse feel David's coming means?

3. Why is Reverend Curtis' sermon different after the first time he sees Kate?

4. Why does George go to Belle's house?

5. What does Tom fear about his life in the story "Mother"?

6. When Ned first plans to move to Cleveland, what does Alice tell him?

7. What are the paper pills?

8. What makes it difficult for the carpenter to finish his job in "The Book of the Grotesque" and why?

9. How does Wing feel about the town where he lives?

10. In the story "Mother", what are Elizabeth's hopes and dreams for George?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Select four women in Winesburg and describe them in terms of their relationships to other characters, their connection to the theme of communication and what they represent to the town and/or George Willard. How does Anderson use female characters in this novel?

Essay Topic 2

Several characters in this novel are lonely. Analyze three characters in terms of their loneliness. Why do they feel alienated? What do they do in response to this alienation? How is loneliness a theme in the novel and what is it representative of?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the two doctors featured in "Winesburg, Ohio". How are Dr. Parcival and Dr. Reefy alike? Different? What roles do they play in the lives of other characters?

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