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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 "Pearls," what does Amy's astrologer predict?

2. In "Smile, Beautiful," what does a woman at a book signing tell Sedaris that brings him close to tears?

3. In "Happy-Go-Lucky," what is Sedaris stunned to hear Lou admit to being wrong about?

4. On page 247 of "Lucky-Go-Happy," what space does Sedaris say he thinks of as his "office"?

5. In the anecdote Sedaris tells about the woman with the facial injury in "Smile, Beautiful," what was the women bitten by?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Lady Marmalade," what conclusion does Sedaris draw about Lou's motivations for his behavior toward his children's bodies?

2. In "Smile, Beautiful," how do Hugh and Amy react after Sedaris reveals his newly corrected teeth?

3. In "A Better Place," what is Sedaris's response to the idea that his father "did his best" (193)?

4. In "Lucky-Go-Happy," what does Sedaris start asking all of the teenagers at his readings, and what is his reaction to the responses he gets?

5. When describing protests in "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what two examples of White participants' vandalism does Sedaris give, and how do Black bystanders react?

6. In "Pearls," what does Sedaris theorize are the two main causes of relationship failures?

7. In "Pussytoes," what happens when Sedaris calls Gretchen about their father's death?

8. In "The Vacuum," what activities does Sedaris describe filling his days with while he is waiting until he can go out and walk at night?

9. 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?

10. In "Smile, Beautiful," what does Sedaris share about the conditions under which he can be generous?

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

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 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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