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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 "The Vacuum," what does Sedaris say is the only thing he was able to successfully hoard?
2. Where does the title "Pussytoes" come from?
3. In "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what does Bermey say caused him to lose sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement?
4. In "The Vacuum," which standing appointment is Amy reluctant to move online?
5. In the opening of "Fresh-Caught Haddock," whose death does Sedaris mention?
Short Essay Questions
1. In "Smile, Beautiful," how do Hugh and Amy react after Sedaris reveals his newly corrected teeth?
2. In "Smile, Beautiful," what does Sedaris share about the conditions under which he can be generous?
3. In "Happy-Go-Lucky," what two examples does Sedaris give of his father's tendency to exaggerate?
4. In "The Vacuum," what kind of language does Sedaris complain about people using to describe the pandemic, and what are some examples of this language?
5. In "A Better Place," what is the rhetorical purpose of describing Lou's grave site in such detail?
6. In "A Better Place," what is Sedaris's response to the idea that his father "did his best" (193)?
7. In "Pussytoes," what happens when Sedaris calls Gretchen about their father's death?
8. In "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what examples of his own unconscious racism does Sedaris give?
9. What literal and figurative meanings does Sedaris convey with the title "Pearls"?
10. In "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what does a Jewish acquaintance point out to Sedaris about his proposed solutions for Confederate monuments?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
You have already analyzed how comic detail functions in "Pearls." Now, apply a similar analysis to another one of the essays in Happy-Go-Lucky. Consider how the essay functions without these details. Think about whether the comic details in your chosen essay have similar or dissimilar tones and how their tone(s) might impact readers. Write an essay that explicates how humor functions in this essay: is it intended to entertain, persuade, inform, or to fulfill some combination of these purposes? How does it accomplish Sedaris's purposes, exactly? Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the essay.
Essay Topic 2
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.
Essay Topic 3
Choose one essay from Happy-Go-Lucky and write an analysis of the truth value of its claims. Explain which details are likely to be factually accurate and why, and why other details are less likely to be factually accurate. Offer an analysis of whether this balance impacts the essay's meaning and value to a reader. You may decide that the essay is more accurate than not, or that it is riddled with fictionalized details--and in either case you may argue that the balance between factually accurate truth and fictionalized truth creates a negative or positive impact on the essay's value. Develop your analysis with clear reasoning and supportive detail from the essay itself.
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This section contains 1,189 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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