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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 kind of talk does Didion find unsettling during the meeting in "Getting Serenity"?
2. Who does Didion say mainstream writers dine with at the end of "Alicia and the Underground Press"?
3. What is the first speaker at the meeting Didion covers in "Getting Serenity" addicted to?
4. How many people does Didion write in "A Trip to Xanadu" visited San Simeon annually?
5. What is one of the newspapers that the author lists as one of the few that do not make her feel as though "the oxygen has been cut off from [her] brain tissue" (20)?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is Joan doing at Nancy Reagan's home in "Pretty Nancy" and who else is there and why?
2. What does Nancy Reagan show Joan at the State Capital and what does she say about it?
3. Why does Didion say that the so-called underground papers she discusses in "Alicia" are not really underground?
4. What happened when Joan wrote a paper for one of her friends at Stanford? What was the paper about? What grade did he get? What grade did she get?
5. What does Didion say underground papers are able to do that conventional papers cannot in "Alicia and the Underground Press"?
6. In "A Trip to Xanadu," what is the castle people could see from Highway 1 and who built it?
7. Describe the first female speaker in "Getting Serenity."
8. 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?
9. What do the tour guides in "A Trip to Xandadu" say about Hearsts sons?
10. How does Didion describe the tone of the tour guides in "A Trip to Xanadu"?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Choosing 3 essays from Let Me Tell You What I Mean, write a detailed analysis of tone. Include whether the tone changes or remains the same. If it changes, include details on when, why and whether this change is effective.
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay analyzing the symbolic significance of San Simeon in "A Trip To Xanadu." What did it mean to Joan as a child? How did it impact her life? What did it mean to others? What was it like for her and her niece to see it in person?
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay analyzing narrator reliability in Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Consider the reliability of the one's memory and possible biases one may bring to a piece. Use examples from Let Me Tell You What I Mean in your analysis.
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This section contains 808 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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