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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 kind of bird is printed on Bailey's shirt?

2. What does Grandmother tell a story about?

3. Why does Grandmother take her cat onto the trip?

4. What does the Misfit call the psychiatrist at the penitentiary?

5. Why does Grandmother lie about the silver?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think Grandmother is really that worried about meeting the Misfit in Florida?

2. How is O'Connor's portrayal of a serial killer unconventional?

3. In what way does the Grandmother foreshadow their deaths?

4. Why do you think that the Misfit cannot remember the reason he is in prison?

5. Why do you think Grandmother smuggles the cat into the car?

6. How do you think the Grandmother interprets the bible?

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

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

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

10. Describe Bailey's relationship with his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think O'Connor portrays the family members, including the main character, so negatively? What impact does it have on the story's meaning? How did you feel about their deaths?

Essay Topic 2

The short story is set in the 1950s. What concerns and political problems were there in the fifties? Does O'Connor reflect them in the book?

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Grandmother and the Misfit relate so well to each other? Do they share similar characteristics? Why does the Misfit kill her at the end?

(see the answer keys)

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