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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 the significance of Jimmy knowing how long ago the restaurant closed?

2. What does Bob mean when he describes Jimmy as a "plodder" (620)?

3. What is the most likely reason that Bob does not recognize Jimmy when they are talking?

4. How far does Bob say he traveled in order to meet with Jimmy?

5. What is the name of the restaurant that used to be in the spot where the man is waiting?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the similarities and differences in the ways that Bob's and the plainclothes officer's faces are revealed?

2. Describe the story's opening moments, including its setting.

3. What is amusing about the plainclothes officer's answer to Bob's question about whether he is doing well in New York?

4. What is appropriate about the plainclothes officer greeting Bob with the line "It's Bob, sure as fate" (621)?

5. What is ironic about the way that Bob describes his old friend to the "policeman" he encounters?

6. What causes Bob to finally realize that the plainclothes officer is not Jimmy Wells?

7. How does the introduction of Bob's character contrast with the introduction of Jimmy's character?

8. When the plainclothes officer tells Bob "We'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times," (621), what does he mean, and what does Bob likely think he means?

9. How did Bob and Jimmy know one another, 20 years ago?

10. What is the effect of the passage depicting Bob continuing to wait in the doorway as it begins to rain?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that uses psychological research to defend a thesis about environment and morality. Be sure to cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the role of setting in "After Twenty Years." Use textual evidence to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about diction in "After Twenty Years." Be sure that your essay goes beyond labeling types of diction and noting the effect of particular word choices; you should establish a claim in the beginning of your essay about the significance of patterns of diction choices to the meaning or impact of the text as a whole. Use quoted textual evidence to support your arguments.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,045 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample