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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 did the schoolchildren who visited O'Connor's farm call the peacock's smaller, gray tail?

2. Where did O'Connor see the ad for her first peafowl?

3. How long does it take for a cock's plumage to attain its pattern?

4. What kind of vision does O'Connor say a fiction writer needs to develop?

5. How old was O'Connor when a photographer visited her in "The King of the Birds"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does O'Connor react to the editorial's cry for more spiritual writing, showing the joys of life?

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. What dream did O'Connor have at the end of "The King of the Birds"?

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

10. What does O'Connor mean when she says a writer must find his location in order to do his best work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore O'Connor's view of English teachers. What does O'Connor say their job is, in regards to helping students understand literature? Why does O'Connor say that English teachers are avoiding teaching English? What methods does she talk about that teachers use? What is the problem with these methods?

Essay Topic 2

Explore the way O'Connor uses her own story about a family of six, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," to highlight her plea for readers to stop over analyzing her work. What does she say typically happens when the story is read? How would she like readers to read this story? Why do you think she would prefer readers to stop trying to figure this story and her other works out?

Essay Topic 3

What does O'Connor say about being labeled a Southern writer? Does she feel that it is beneficial to wear this label? What problems does she run into because she is labeled a Southern writer? Based on her tone, how does she seem to feel about how those writing in the South are perceived to always be writing about the South?

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This section contains 768 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample