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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 English translation of the word "Basta" (41)?

2. Which detail conveys Frank's continued attractiveness to women despite his age?

3. Where are Frank, Alan, and Brenda at the beginning of Part 2?

4. At what time of year are Frank and Alan in Venice?

5. When Frank tells Alan that he can drive Brenda to Rome himself, what does Brenda tell Frank?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Frank decide not to tell Alan about his conversation with Eda, and why?

2. In the hotel bar in Spoleto, what does Alan tell Frank about Europe, and what is Frank's response?

3. What has happened in Brenda's life since she and Frank broke up?

4. What is symbolic about the car that Frank and Alan are in while they tour Europe?

5. When Frank and Alan are leaving a Spoleto restaurant with Eda between them, what does the clerk say, and what is his meaning?

6. Where do Frank and Alan take Eda, and what does Frank buy her there?

7. Whom do Frank and Alan meet in Arezzo, and how do they meet her?

8. What is Eda's reaction to Frank's explanation of the situation with Alan, and how does Frank treat her decision?

9. What does the narrative imply happens between Alan and Eda on the night before the story ends, and what is Alan's reaction to it in the morning?

10. What joke does Brenda make about Italians during the conversation about espresso?

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

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 3

Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the role of women in "American Express." Be sure to support your assertions with evidence from the text.

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