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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. With whom does Brenda go on a trip to Hawaii?

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

3. In what way do Frank and Alan become "like the old partners" at the firm because of the Hardmann Roe case?

4. What are the details of the thick towels, Biedermeier desk, and private school meant to convey?

5. From context, what is the best interpretation of the word "funny" in "In those days they were living in apartments with funny furniture" (25)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the difference in Frank's and Alan's attitudes toward marriage?

2. 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?

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

4. Explain the meaning of this metaphor used on page 23: "They were in the last rank of the armies of law."

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

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

7. Who is Nan Christie, and what is her relationship to Frank?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that analyzes how and why Salter adapts the third-person point of view to shift perspective from one character to another. Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the role of class differences in "American Express." Support your assertions with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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