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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did the editorial that challenged American writers say American writers do?
(a) Write about being poor.
(b) Write as if everyone in the country is rich.
(c) Write too much like British writers.
(d) Write too abstractly, confusing readers.

2. Which of O'Connor's works does she use to show examples of hidden themes and symbols?
(a) Wise Blood.
(b) The Violent Bear It Away.
(c) A Good Man Is Hard to Find.
(d) Everything That Rises Must Converge.

3. What kind of vision does O'Connor say a fiction writer needs to develop?
(a) Anagogical.
(b) Palpable.
(c) Natural.
(d) Undisguised.

4. When will a peacock regrow his feathers once he sheds?
(a) After Christmas.
(b) After Memorial Day.
(c) After Easter.
(d) Near the first day of spring.

5. What does O'Connor say is a word that sounds good in anyone's mouth that no book jacket can do without?
(a) Gratitude.
(b) Compassion.
(c) Kindness.
(d) Knowledge.

6. What did the telephone repairman comment on when O'Connor asked what he thinks of the peacock?
(a) Its coloring.
(b) Its bad attitude.
(c) Its legs.
(d) Its tail.

7. What did O'Connor tell a classroom that there was no such thing as?
(a) A Work of Fiction.
(b) A Critical Response.
(c) An American Novel.
(d) The Writer.

8. What does O'Connor say fiction should deal with?
(a) Reality.
(b) History.
(c) The subconscious.
(d) Vague concepts.

9. Who called art "reason in making"?
(a) St. Thomas.
(b) St. Kea.
(c) St. Mark.
(d) St. Petroc.

10. What does O'Connor say there are more of in the South than rivers and streams?
(a) Farmers.
(b) Critics.
(c) Writers.
(d) Preachers.

11. How many sections does the story "Summer Dust" have?
(a) 3.
(b) 5.
(c) 4.
(d) 8.

12. What type of people does O'Connor say Southerners can recognize?
(a) Freaks.
(b) Spiritual.
(c) Intellectuals.
(d) Wealthy.

13. Who does O'Connor believe truly speaks for the country?
(a) Poets.
(b) Advertising agencies.
(c) Lawmakers.
(d) Preachers.

14. How did the old man respond when his children asked him what O'Connor's peacock was?
(a) He says it is "a peacock and nothing more."
(b) He says it is "the king of the birds."
(c) He stands in silence before getting back in his car.
(d) He says it is an "overgrown chicken."

15. What does O'Connor say a writer needs but cannot get from a writing class?
(a) Experience.
(b) An epiphany.
(c) Competence.
(d) Vision.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did O'Connor's first set of peafowl come from?

2. How much was a pair of peafowl that O'Connor saw in the paper?

3. What does O'Connor refer to as a "complete dramatic action"?

4. Besides the telephone repairman, who did O'Connor say is indifferent to the peacock's display?

5. What did the telephone repairman say he thought O'Connor's peacock could outrun?

(see the answer keys)

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