View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Unbuttoned," what two items does Sedaris take from his father's house?

2. How does Sedaris feel when Harrison tells him that he has never heard of Sedaris's books?

3. In the beginning of "Unbuttoned," what has put Lou in the hospital?

4. In "To Serbia with Love," what smell does Sedaris complain is omnipresent during his travels in Eastern Europe?

5. Where did Sedaris once unexpectedly find a gun?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Bruised," what "secret" does Sedaris believe Olivier has discovered, and why does he guess that Olivier is struggling to accept his new knowledge?

2. What decision did Lou make about his will that upset Sedaris, and why was it so upsetting?

3. In "Father Time," how does Sedaris's description of Mayview connect the essay's motif of the inevitable march of time with his concerns about fatherhood?

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

5. In "Hurricane Season," how does the example of the neighbor's "shocking" outdoor shower undermine the point Sedaris has just made about renters?

6. In "Highfalutin," how does Sedaris say his adult experience in front of cameras reflects his role in the childhood game he played with Amy?

7. In "Unbuttoned," how does Sedaris contrast his feelings about his own medical procedure with his father's behavior?

8. In "Active Shooter," what contrast does Sedaris see between the drills he recalls in his own elementary school and the ones being practiced today?

9. In "To Serbia with Love," what criticism does Sedaris level against the American tourists Patsy deals with in Paris?

10. In "Hurricane Season," what type of art does Hugh hang in the rental house, and how does Sedaris characterize a recent tenant's reaction to this art?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

How does the structure of "Active Shooter" contribute to the essay's tone and meaning? Write an essay in which you consider how Sedaris manipulates the flow of time to create emphasis, to develop his argument, and to create juxtapositions with differing tones. Develop your analysis with clear reasoning and supportive detail from the essay itself.

Essay Topic 3

After reading "Highfaluntin," you considered how Sedaris attempts to dispute his sister Tiffany's charge that he and Amy are pretentious. Certainly, Sedaris lives a life of privilege. But is this the same as being pretentious? Consider the collection as a whole as you develop a claim about how Sedaris's narrative voice and the details he chooses to include in his essays argue for or against him being characterized as pretentious or snobbish. As you examine this idea, consider whether privilege automatically makes a person a snob, or whether some additional element is necessary to justify this characterization. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,202 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample