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

2. From what newspaper was the photographer who visited O'Connor at her home?

3. University students in the 1920s created a pamphlet with what title?

4. How did the old man respond when his children asked him what O'Connor's peacock was?

5. What is O'Connor's advice for writers who do not want to be regional?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at O'Connor's conscious decision to let her birds take over her life and her farm. At what point does she realize she has to decide to choose whether she wants to keep her birds or let them rule her life? What do you think it says about O'Connor that she ask the man selling fence posts, "Who went?" in regards to his grandmother or his birds? Before reaching the end of the essay, did you think she might give her birds up? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Explore O'Connor's obsession with chickens and then peafowl. Discuss how her obsession for birds grows after the photographer comes to visit. Why do you think her obsession follows his visit? What feelings does O'Connor seem to have about the photographer's visit? Consider the fact that he never visits again. A spokesperson from each group should tell the class what the group talked about.

Essay Topic 3

Look at O'Connor's feelings toward aspiring writers. What does O'Connor feel most aspiring writers are interested in? What does she mean when she says aspiring writers are interested in "being a writer"? What should the serious writer be interested in? Why do you think she makes a point to stress these ideas to a writing class? Why does it frustrate the author to have to explain writing?

(see the answer keys)

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