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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 will always be a Catholic novel's center of destruction?

2. Which of O'Connor's relatives did a man ask to relay a message to her about her type of characters?

3. O'Connor mentions instances where parents from what state object to their child's reading assignments?

4. Who said art does not necessitate restrictions?

5. What emotion does the Catholic novelist sometimes feel when he views what he is supposed to do as a Catholic and as a novelist?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. How does O'Connor respond to those who say that Catholics cannot be artists?

7. How does O'Connor respond to the idea that there is a lack of good Catholic writing in America?

8. What does O'Connor say to those who say that Catholics are too restrained by their rigorous Catholic education to write creatively?

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

10. How did John Hersey defend his book "A Bell for Adano" in a letter to the Georgia state school superintendent?

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 the short story. How does she say a short story is just like a novel? What does she say a short story requires? What are many short stories missing? Why do you think she holds the short story in such high esteem? What can it accomplish that a novel cannot?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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