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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 photographer come to O'Connor's home to film?

2. Who said that the artist is concerned with the good of that which is made?

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

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

5. While some call "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" grotesque, what does O'Connor call it?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

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

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

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

7. Why did a photographer visit O'Connor when she was a young girl?

8. How does O'Connor describe grotesque writing?

9. Why does O'Connor believe that Christian writers will best be able to discern the grotesque?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss the idea that Catholic writers use violence as a way to get their point across. What does O'Connor feel might happen if a Catholic writer goes too far in using shocking techniques to make the secular reader understand? What is her advice to the Catholic writer who considers indulging in pornography or sentimentality in their writing?

(see the answer keys)

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