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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. In "Themes and Variations," what is Sedaris's tone as he discusses the excuses men give when they arrive in the ER with objects lodged in their rectums?

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

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

4. In "To Serbia with Love," what is Patsy's job in Paris?

5. In "Hurricane Season," what amenity does Sedaris say is irritating for next-door-neighbors?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. In "Bruised," how does Sedaris feel his identity is flattened by his lack of French language skills?

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

5. 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?

6. 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?

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

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

9. Describe the condition of Lou's house when the Sedaris siblings go to start clearing it out In "Unbuttoned."

10. In "Hurricane Season," what contrast does Sedaris explore between his reception of Hugh's criticisms of his family and his family's criticisms of Hugh?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the title "Themes and Variations" suit both the explicit and implicit content of the essay? Write an essay in which you explore how "Themes and Variations" is both a summary of the essay's content related to Sedaris's interactions with his audience and a nod to the essay's ability to deliver both overt and covert themes. Use evidence from the text itself to support your interpretation of the essay's explicit and implicit content, and give clear reasoning to connect the essay's title to both kinds of content.

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

You have read several essay about Lou Sedaris and his children's relationship with him. One element that recurs over and over is the guitar that was Sedaris's in childhood and that ended up in Lou's room at Springmoor. Consider the symbolic power of this object. Why does Sedaris mention it again and again? Why is its provenance important? What does it seem to mean to Lou? What are Sedaris's various reactions to the guitar in the different essays in which it is mentioned? What does this guitar convey about Sedaris and his father's relationship and how that relationship changed over the years? How does Lou's unfulfilled desire to learn to play the guitar contribute to the reader's understanding of how the relationship between Sedaris and his father was left when Lou died? Write an essay that analyzes the symbolic meaning of this guitar. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the collection.

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