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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 does the Bushmaster ad that Sedaris sees explicitly associate guns with?

2. In "Themes and Variations," what are the details of the airport McDonald's employee's appearance intended to convey?

3. In "A Speech to the Graduates," what is the purpose of the charity that Sedaris mentions working with?

4. In "Unbuttoned," what word does Sedaris point out is one that Lou habitually uses to describe others?

5. What name does the gun-safety instructor keep calling Sedaris?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Highfalutin," what two things does Amy do while she and Sedaris are shopping that he finds funny but also mortifying?

2. In "Themes and Variations," what does Sedaris discover about women, and how does he discover it?

3. In "Active Shooter," how is Lisa's concern about what she saw at Starbucks used as the basis for a joke later in the essay?

4. In "To Serbia with Love," how does Sedaris describe the flea markets that he and Patsy visit in Eastern Europe?

5. In "Themes and Variations," what experience does Sedaris say shaped his desire to interact warmly with his fans?

6. In "Active Shooter," how does Lisa explain to the instructor and to Sedaris her desire to take a gun-safety course?

7. In "Bruised," what anecdote does Sedaris tell about a neighbor woman he knew when he was a child?

8. In "A Speech to the Graduates," what anecdote does Sedaris tell about the woman at the book-signing event, and what is this anecdote's rhetorical function?

9. In "Highfalutin," how does Sedaris describe Amy's writing and acting?

10. In "Active Shooter," what is the rhetorical purpose of the anecdote about Lisa believing a story she read in The Onion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the meaning behind the anthology's title? Consider the content of the essay of the same name and how it relates to other essays in the collection. Consider how the title sums up a larger idea in this collection--earnestly or ironically. Also think about the reversed title in the essay's final collection. What is the point of reversing this title, and how does this choice add to your understanding of Sedaris's choice of Happy-Go-Lucky for the entire collection? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about Sedaris's choice of title for this anthology of essays. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the collection.

Essay Topic 2

The ideas expressed in "Bruises" are motifs that run throughout much of the collection Happy-Go-Lucky. Choose three to five essays from the collection and show how they support the idea that bruising experiences can limit a person's full expression of themselves. This idea does not have to be the main point an essay is making in order for you to include the essay in your discussion, but it should be clearly presented enough that you can draw more than one example or quote from each essay you choose.

Essay Topic 3

In "Lady Marmalade," Sedaris airs evidence for and against his sister Tiffany's claims of sexual abuse. Do you think that an essay intended for public viewing is an appropriate venue for these musings, when neither Lou nor Tiffany is alive to have their voices heard? If Sedaris wanted to focus on his own struggle to come to terms with his sister's accusations, what other detail and language choices might he have made? Would this have been a more appropriate choice, or is the entire topic not really Sedaris's story to share? Write an essay that considers what Sedaris's detail and language choices are meant to convey, what might have been conveyed through different choices, and whether the choices he has made are ethically appropriate.

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