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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 "Happy-Go-Lucky," what reason does Lou give for the priest disliking him?

2. Where does the title of the essay "Lady Marmalade" come from?

3. In "A Better Place," what feature of the restaurant does Sedaris repeatedly complain about?

4. In "The Vacuum," what does Sedaris buy at the gourmet store Eataly that he later feels he has to defend to Hugh?

5. In the opening of "Fresh-Caught Haddock," whose death does Sedaris mention?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In "Lucky-Go-Happy," what does Sedaris say about using Hugh as a test audience for his writing?

3. 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?

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

5. In "Smile, Beautiful," what two reasons does Sedaris mention for his surprise when the man on the street tells the woman to smile?

6. In "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what examples of his own unconscious racism does Sedaris give?

7. 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?

8. In "Happy-Go-Lucky," why does Sedaris think that his father is losing his hearing?

9. What literal and figurative meanings does Sedaris convey with the title "Pearls"?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the symbol of the grandfather clock unify the essay "Father Time"? How do both ideas it contains--the idea of fatherhood and the idea of time--run through the essay? How does the clock serve to unify both of these ideas into a single message? Write an essay in which you analyze the clock as a symbol. Use textual evidence to defend your idea of its symbolic significance, and then show how this symbolic significance is developed throughout the remainder of the essay. Be sure to focus attention on the relationship between the two main ideas that this clock introduces--do not simply treat them as two separate topics.

Essay Topic 2

You have given some thought to what kinds of structural and focal choices are effective in conveying serious social ideas in a brief format like Sedaris's essays. But do these rules hold true when the subject matter is more personal or more lighthearted? Choose one of the essays from this collection that is about a topic that is either personal to Sedaris--such as one of the essays about his father or Hugh--or that is generally less serious--such as one of the essays about Amy or Sedaris's own failings. Write an essay that analyzes the structure and focus of the essay and then evaluates whether these choices are effective, and why. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the essay.

Essay Topic 3

In "Happy-Go-Lucky," Sedaris reflects on how his father has changed over time and how he, too, might change as a result of his father's death. This essay gives the entire anthology its name--does it unite the anthology in another sense, as well? What other essays in this collection show how Sedaris has changed over time? What hopes does he seem to have for how he might continue to grow and change? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about how the idea of personal growth and change permeates this collection. Your essay should not simply point to places where this motif occurs but should make observations about its meaning--what, specifically, does Sedaris seek to convey about his own identity and its change through time? Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the collection.

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