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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 does O'Connor say there are more of in the South than rivers and streams?

2. Where was Faulkner at home?

3. What did the magazine editorial that challenged American writers say literature lacks?

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

5. What reason did O'Connor give a female student who asked her why she writes?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does the peahen act when she lays eggs?

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

5. How does O'Connor feel about the fiction writer using symbols?

6. What does O'Connor say about the Manicheans in "The Nature and Aim of Fiction"?

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

8. Why does O'Connor think some people pretend to be unaffected by the peacocks?

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does O'Connor mean when she says it is the business of fiction to embody mystery and manners? What does she mean when she talks of manners? Of mystery? How does a writer figure out what their mystery and manners are? How does O'Connor find her mystery and manners? How do mystery and manners work together to create interesting fiction? How does regionalism tie into mystery and manners?

Essay Topic 2

Explore O'Connor's feelings about the peahen. What does she seem to admire about the female birds? Why do you think her admiration of them is so brief? What does her admiration of the female birds seem to represent?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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This section contains 760 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample