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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 is the title of the one serious poem written by Blue in Chapter V?

2. Which of the following words best describes Blue's physical appearance in the hospital?

3. Who pays for Blue and the narrator's dinner in Chapter VI?

4. Why is Blue in the hospital?

5. What service does Blue pledge himself to in Chapter VII?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the "Spies of God?"

2. How does Blue end up in the hospital?

3. What is the narrator's response to Blue's death?

4. What is the vocation Blue found?

5. How does Blue feel about scientific agnosticism?

6. What is the narrator's vocation?

7. Describe Blue's tone at dinner in Chapter VI.

8. What does the narrator learn from Blue in their walk around the lake about American Catholicism?

9. What is the difference between a vow of poverty in a religious order and the vow of poverty that Blue took?

10. Why is Blue frightened by his own happiness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mr. Blue was published in 1928, three years after the legendary novel, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In many ways, Blue is the anti-Gatsby. Examine the similarities and differences between the two novels, "Mr. Blue" and "The Great Gatsby."

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter VI, when Blue and the narrator reached dinner, the narrator worried aloud that Blue was too serious for the happiest person on earth. It turns out that Blue is frightened due to his happiness. Analyze Blue's thoughts on happiness. What scares Blue about his happiness? What is the cost of happiness? How does Blue think he will have to pay this?

Essay Topic 3

Write a literary critique of "Mr. Blue." Include the following:

· What is the author's purpose in writing the story?

· What is the author's underlying belief about the topic?

· Do you agree with the author's conclusions?

· Does the writing follow a conventional plot diagram?

· Is the conflict made clear?

· Do you agree with the author's resolution of the conflict?

· Is there enough evidence throughout the novel to support the events that take place?

(see the answer keys)

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