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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 fiction should deal with?

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

3. What volunteer fire department was Mr. Montgomery a member of?

4. In what magazine did O'Connor read an editorial challenging her and other writers?

5. Which of O'Connor's relatives refused to accept that her story about a man who leaves his wife at an eatery was complete?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How does O'Connor feel about short stories?

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

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

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

8. How does O'Connor describe grotesque writing?

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

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

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 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?

(see the answer keys)

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