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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. When Alan and Frank miss Brenda's party, what is Alan disappointed about?

2. What is Alan's family's religious background?

3. Where is Alan's family from?

4. What is Frank referring to when he asks Brenda what she is going to do with "that beautiful struma" (27)?

5. What technique is used in the sentence "In the morning in stale darkness the subways shrieked" (26)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is "Hardmann Roe," and what role does it play in shaping Frank's and Alan's careers?

2. What is the story that Nan Christie tells Frank about trying to find someone to date and marry?

3. In what way is Alan's reaction to Nan different from Frank's?

4. What is the outcome of Frank and Alan's big case, and how does it impact their careers?

5. How does Nan react when Frank tells her his theory about the difference between men and women?

6. Who is Brenda, and what is Franks' relationship with her in the first section of the text?

7. On page 29, what does Brenda say about "thin-lipped women," and how does Frank respond?

8. What do Frank and Alan do two months before their big case is supposed to be tried, and why do people tell them it is a bad idea?

9. What is similar and what is different about Frank's and Alan's fathers?

10. What major event happens in Alan's life at Christmastime the year that Frank meets Nan, and how does Alan feel about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In an early discussion of Alan's father's legal career, the narrator notes that “No defendant was too guilty, no case too clear-cut” (25). This leads to public disdain for Alan's father, but shortly afterward the reader sees the man himself in action, defending a black man in front of a bigoted jury. Reread this section of the text and then write an essay that considers how Alan's father functions as a metaphor for Salter himself and for his style of writing without sentimentality of the circumstances surrounding the immoral action of having sex with a minor. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

In a well-known interview with Edward Hirsch, Salter said, "Pure masculinity...is tedious and inadequate." Write an essay in which you analyze the extent to which "American Express" supports this observation. Use textual evidence to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Salter has said that he does not agree that his sensibility as a writer is "French," but that regardless, he very much admires French writers for their lack of sentimentality. Write an essay that considers both to what extent "American Express" reveals this disdain for sentimentality and how this impacts its readers. Support your claims with textual evidence.

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