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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 Sedaris say his mother would often call to read him over the phone?

2. In "Fresh-Caught Haddock," what is Amy's implied motivation for wanting to take a trip to Emerald Isle?

3. In "The Vacuum," what does Sedaris say he has learned through experience never to do on the streets of New York?

4. In "Lucky-Go-Happy," what does Sedaris see on the floor at Charlotte Douglas International Airport?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Happy-Go-Lucky," what do the changes in Lou suggest to Sedaris might be true in his own life?

2. In "Happy-Go-Lucky," what is the rhetorical function of Sedaris's comment that his father used to watch at lot of Fox News?

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

4. In "Lady Marmalade," what reasons do the Sedaris siblings have for being skeptical of Tiffany's claims that Lou sexually abused her?

5. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

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.

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