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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. Where did Frank take Alan and Brenda in Paris?

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. After they drop Eda off, what does Alan say to Frank about the encounter?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When the second part of the story opens, where are Alan and Frank, and who is with them?

3. In the story's closing paragraphs, what is Alan thinking about, and why?

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

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

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

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

8. 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?

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

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

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

Write an essay in which you analyze how material possessions are used as a symbolic motif in "American Express." Be sure to support your ideas with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Look up some characteristic examples of Impressionist paintings. Then, write an essay that compares Salter's writing style to the visual style of Impressionist painting. Use examples from the text to support your claims, and cite outside sources in MLA format.

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