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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. Where does the author's mother's family live?

2. What is Ya Ya diagnosed with in the third essay?

3. How many siblings does the author have?

4. What does the narrator's father find in his room when he searches it?

5. What does the author's mother claim happened to their first cat in the first essay?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are the narrator's sisters kidnapped in "Chipped Beef"? How do his parents react?

2. What does David fantasize about his "real parents" in "Chipped Beef"?

3. What does David's father warn his children about, and how?

4. How does Ya Ya feel about her grandchildren? How do they feel about her?

5. Describe what the title, "Next of Kin" refers to.

6. What is the first mystery in "True Detective"? How is it solved?

7. What does Miss Chestnut scold David for in "A Plague of Tics"?

8. Why does the author's mother leave behind a video for Lisa? What is on it?

9. Why does David discover his mother sobbing in the bathroom in "Chipped Beef"? What is his consolation?

10. What does David encounter when he returns to Dix Hill?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of "punch lines" in the text. What are examples of these in the essays? What is a "punch line" defined as?

Essay Topic 2

What are the events which take place in "Get Your Ya-ya's Out"? What themes does this piece reflect? How does the author describe the settings in this essay?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the author's mother and father in the essays. How are these personalities similar? How do they differ?

(see the answer keys)

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