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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 is the protagonist in "The Fugitive," which the author regularly checks in on?

2. What is the name of the sanitarium in Raleigh?

3. Who comes to the house to speak to the author's mother in the second essay?

4. Who leaves a large inheritance to the author's mother?

5. Where does the narrator say his family sits in the church in the first essay?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What changes David's father's mind about Ya Ya's being taken to a care facility? Where does he take her?

5. How does "Next of Kin" become passed through the family? What finally happens to it?

6. When does Ya Ya die? How does the family react?

7. What leads Ya Ya to need to be cared for? How does this lead to arguments between the author's parents?

8. What is David's father's obsession? Where does he take them in "Women's Open"?

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

10. Why do David's teachers come to his home? What is their impression of his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the overriding theme of "family." What essays imbue this theme? How?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Sedaris' use of satire. How does satire apply to a memoir piece? How does the author's structure reflect this style?

Essay Topic 3

Which essay examines the author's homosexuality? What does he use as the comparison/juxtaposition of his homosexuality? Describe the events and themes of the essay.

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