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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. Where does Grandmother want to go instead of Florida?

2. What is the name of the restaurant the family stop at?

3. What does the Grandmother initially remember about the plantation?

4. What kind of people does Grandmother say the Misfit comes from?

5. What is the baby doing before they kill him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is significant that June refers to Bobby Lee as a pig?

2. In what way is it ironic that the Grandmother decided to take the cat on the trip?

3. What does the story about the melon say about Grandmother's character?

4. What is the significance of June Star tap dancing in the restaurant?

5. Why do Grandmother and Red Sammy get along so well?

6. What do you think the children grown up to be like if they had lived?

7. Why does not O'Connor tell the reader what Bailey says to his mother?

8. What does Grandmother mean when she says that Misfit is one of her own children?

9. Describe the character of John Wesley.

10. How does The Misfit give the Grandmother salvation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine O'Connor's writing style.

1) What kind of language does she use? What meaning does it have on the story?

2) What do you think the themes of the story say about O'Connor as a person. Do she seem comfortable with these themes?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the Misfit's time in jail. How do you think it affected him? Does O'Connor portray his time in jail as a help to him? What does it say about the state of prisons in the fifties?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the difference between a novel and a novella in regards to:

1) Language

2) Character

3) Structure

(see the answer keys)

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