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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. What does Didion say she associates that word serenity with in "Getting Serenity"?
2. Among what other items does Joan's rejection letter sit in a drawer at her mother's house in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?
3. What does Didion feel meetings such as the one she attended in "Getting Serenity" reinforce in people?
4. In what branch of the army was the second speaker in "Getting Serenity"?
5. In what grade does Joan's friend get on the essay she wrote for him in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice," how many applications does Joan say the private kindergarten her friend was trying to get her child into received?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the first female speaker in "Getting Serenity."
2. Who is Skip Skivington and what does he tell Joan about his son in "Fathers, Sons, and Screaming Eagles"?
3. What do the tour guides in "A Trip to Xandadu" say about Hearsts sons?
4. What part of the meeting in "Getting Serenity does Didion find most unsettling and why?
5. What example does Joan use to express how much more difficult things have gotten regarding parents trying to ensure their children get into their college of choice?
6. In what way does the newsman in "Pretty Nancy" try to manipulate the moment to achieve his desired outcome?
7. What does Didion say underground papers are able to do that conventional papers cannot in "Alicia and the Underground Press"?
8. In "A Trip to Xanadu," what is the castle people could see from Highway 1 and who built it?
9. How does Didion describe the way the Hearsts spent money in "A Trip to Xanadu"?
10. What happened to Joan on April 25, 1952 in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice" and how did she react?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay analysis the theme of artist and subject in Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Reference "Pretty Nancy," "Some Women," and "Last Words" in your analysis.
Essay Topic 2
Write a detailed analysis of Didion's views of the people in "Last Words" who published Hemingway's works after his death, and Oppenheimer from "Everywoman.com" who wrote a biography of Martha Stewart.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay about the significance of Didion's Stanford rejection letter in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice." How did this rejection impact her in both the immediate and the long term? How does Didion feel about this "failure" early on in life?
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This section contains 801 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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