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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 color was the helmet of the telephone repairman that came to O'Connor's farm?

2. Students from what university created a pamphlet in the 1920s?

3. What possession of O'Connor's mom did the peafowl eat systematically?

4. About how long did the telephone repairman wait to see a peacock strut?

5. How did the man selling fence posts get rid of his peafowl?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does O'Connor feel about Southern writing being labeled as "grotesque"?

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

4. How does O'Connor feel about the peahens?

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

6. What does O'Connor say about reality in fiction writing?

7. How did the peafowl feel about O'Connor after nine years?

8. Why does O'Connor advise that if an author is called a Southern writer he is best to rid himself of the title as soon as possible?

9. What does O'Connor say about those who have the gift for writing?

10. How does O'Connor feel about the average person that is interested in writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore the challenges a Catholic writer might face. What problems do Catholic writers face, especially when writing for a secular audience? How might the set beliefs of Catholics affect their vision when creating fiction? What does O'Connor say to these claims? How might these beliefs make a Catholic fiction writer better?

Essay Topic 2

Explore the perspective used in this nonfiction work. How would O'Connor's lessons on writing be different if they were written from a third-person perspective, like they would be in a textbook? What could the reader gain from a less personal perspective? What is gained from the first-person perspective that O'Connor uses instead?

Essay Topic 3

Explore the use of Mary Ann as a representation for grotesque-style literature. How does the story of Mary Ann help O'Connor to gain new perspective on the topic of the grotesque? How does she start to think differently about the way people see "good" in things? Why does she say that it is easier to see evil than it is to see good? How does this relate to Mary Ann? How does it relate to the grotesque?

(see the answer keys)

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