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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. At what time of night are Bob and Jimmy supposed to meet?

2. What causes the few pedestrians around to hurry "dismally" past Bob (621)?

3. What does Jimmy notice about the pin of Bob's scarf?

4. What causes Bob to realize that the plainclothes officer is not Jimmy?

5. What reason does Bob give for falling out of touch with Jimmy?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. In the story's beginning, what evidence is there that Jimmy takes pride in his job?

6. 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?

7. What were the circumstances of the agreement Jimmy and Bob made 20 years ago?

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

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

10. Why does Jimmy, in his role as the police officer, ask Bob if he is going to keep waiting for his friend to show up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the beliefs about friendship and loyalty conveyed by "After Twenty Years." Use textual evidence to support your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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