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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. Who responds to a symposium on the subject of the lack of Catholic writers by saying "A Catholic, if he is devout, i.e., sold on the authority of his Church, is also brain-washed, whether he realizes it or not"?

2. Who wrote that the roots of the eye are in the heart?

3. What does O'Connor think English teachers can help change?

4. According to O'Connor, how is Redemption gained?

5. What will always be a Catholic novel's center of meaning?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does O'Connor suspect that readers like it when the devil appears in fiction?

2. How does O'Connor feel about bestseller lists?

3. What does O'Connor say about her book when she reviews it for class?

4. How does O'Connor say she believes fiction should be taught?

5. Why might a Catholic novelist feel angst about being both a Catholic and a fiction writer?

6. What story does O'Connor tell at the beginning of "Catholic Novelists and Their Readers"?

7. Describe the God that O'Connor says she believes in.

8. When does O'Connor say the greatest dramas occur?

9. How does O'Connor say that fiction writers and English teachers have common ground?

10. What does O'Connor say should be the result of the proper study of literature?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does O'Connor say she must write, as both a Catholic and a novelist? What does she say her is her responsibility? Why is she so passionate about her obligations? Why is it so important to her to meet the obligations she has set for herself? What can be learned about O'Connor as a fiction writer by looking at the ways in which she defines herself? Why do you think she makes it a point to say that she must protect her reality? What does this mean for her and her reader?

Essay Topic 2

Examine what O'Connor says about the writer's preoccupation with the poor. Why does she believe that writers tend to write about poor people? In what ways do poor people make interesting stories? What is it about the poor and their manners that attract writers? What does she mean when she says that everyone is poor in the eyes of the novelist?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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