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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. The author writes in "True Detective," that to listen to his mother you'd have thought the streets of Raleigh were crawling with what?

2. What does the narrator say is his best asset in the first essay?

3. Where does Ya Ya live in the beginning of the third essay?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Who in David's family is taken to an institution? What effect does this have?

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

3. Who injures the author in "Cyclops"? What is the result?

4. Describe the family's participation at church as detailed in "Chipped Beef."

5. How was David's father brought up? How is his mother's cooking described?

6. What is the eventual "cure" for David's tics? How?

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

8. What happens after the golf tournament in "Women's Open"?

9. What does David do in order to clear his name in "True Detective"?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the essay "Chipped Beef" in terms of theme, setting, stylistic elements, and fantasy.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's use and description of setting in Naked. How does Sedaris create a visual effect upon the reader? What settings are described in great detail?

Essay Topic 3

What takes place in "Next of Kin"? Where does the title derive from? How does this title take on two meanings in the text? What is the outcome of this story?

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