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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does O'Connor refer to as a "complete dramatic action"?
(a) A story.
(b) A novel.
(c) A scene.
(d) A movement.

3. Which writer did Henry James say does things in the way that take the most doing?
(a) Poe.
(b) Matheson.
(c) Emerson.
(d) Conrad.

4. What does O'Connor say that most people interested in writing are not interested in?
(a) Writing well.
(b) Writing for fun.
(c) Getting famous.
(d) Making money.

5. What did an old woman cry when she finally saw the tail on O'Connor's peacock?
(a) "Praise God!"
(b) "Amen! Amen!"
(c) "God bless America!"
(d) "Hallelujah!"

Short Answer Questions

1. O'Connor says belief in what is a hindrance to writers?

2. What did the editorial that challenged American writers say American writers do?

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

4. What did O'Connor feel like when she heard about The School Southern Degeneracy?

5. Who was O'Connor told should be the model of balance for the novelist?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did a man and his five white-haired children react when they saw the peacock in the road?

2. What observations does O'Connor make about the student manuscripts she read?

3. How does having lost the Civil War make Southerners better writers, according to O'Connor?

4. Why does O'Connor believe Southern writers are anguished?

5. In what ways did the peafowl wreck the O'Connor farm?

6. How does O'Connor feel about people trying to analyze her work?

7. What makes Georgia writers different from writers from New York or Hollywood According to O'Connor?

8. Why did the man who sold fence posts get rid of his peafowl?

9. How did the peacock react when a telephone repairman tried to get him to strut?

10. What is the gist of an editorial written to Life magazine regarding writers?

(see the answer keys)

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