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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 idea does White speak against while in Washington?

2. What job does Katharine Angell, White's future wife, have with the New Yorker when he begins writing there?

3. After marrying a Wall Street broker, what example of alliteration did White's sister's name become?

4. Where does White first notice the New Yorker magazine?

5. How much is White paid for his column, "One Man's Meat", for Harper's Magazine?

Short Essay Questions

1. What description does White provide of his wedding?

2. What is "One Man's Meat"

3. Why does White write to Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and the director of the Bronx Zoo respectively?

4. How does White begin writing for the New Yorker, and what does he do once his position becomes permanent?

5. Why did White first begin writing during his childhood?

6. What happens in 1941 that leads to White's work in Washington?

7. How does White gain confidence as a writer while in college, and what acquaintances does he make there?

8. What does White do after he returns from his road trip?

9. What impulsive decision does White write to Katharine about in May, 1937?

10. What is the purpose of White's trip with Howard Cushman, and where do they go?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe White's trip to Washington, including the events that lead up to it, the reasons he is hired by the Department of Facts and Figures, the difference between his original responsibility with his eventual role in the pamphlet, and his opinions of the meetings and process there. Also, provide an analysis of White's views on the war and the draft that he discusses in the letters he writes when he returns from Washington.

Essay Topic 2

An editorial in the New York Herald Tribune outrages White, whose response sparks a public debate.

1) Explain the editorial that is published in the New York Herald Tribune and the "loyalty oath" it discusses.

2) Describe why White objects to the editorial and his letter to the New York Herald Tribune.

3) Explain the New York Herald Tribune's response to White and why they consider his thinking to be dangerous during that time in American history.

4) Analyze the irony in White's criticism of a newspaper publishing an opinion that he disagrees with.

Essay Topic 3

E.B. White provides an autobiography about his family background as the preface for the "Letters of E.B. White".

1) Describe the background of White's parents and what led them to make their home in Mt. Vernon.

2) Explain which siblings White is closest to and why.

3) Describe the help and encouragement that White receives while growing up.

(see the answer keys)

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