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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. How does Frank strike up a conversation with Eda?

2. How long have Frank and Alan planned to be in Europe?

3. What is the narrator implying about Brenda's discussion of her children with the comment "The first act was over.... Now came the plot" (37)?

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

5. Why are most of the things that they see while window shopping in Florence unsuitable for Eda?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What happens between Frank and Eda in his hotel room?

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

4. 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?

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

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

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

8. What does Brenda suggest to Frank about New York, and what is it implied that she is hinting about?

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

10. What do Frank and Brenda fight about when it is time for her to leave Italy, and how does Alan become involved in the argument?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes a claim about the purpose of including Alan in the story--why not just make the story about Frank, and leave Alan out entirely? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that compares and contrasts the settings of New York and Europe in "American Express." Your essay should make a claim about the significance of these two settings, not simply describe them. Be sure to support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Are Frank and Alan happy with their lives and achievements? Write an essay that uses evidence from the text to support a claim about whether either man understands how to make himself truly happy.

(see the answer keys)

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