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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 Mr. Weyinburg?

2. What does Ginnie believe she is unfairly paying for?

3. What do the boys do on sunny days?

4. Who is John Gedsudski?

5. How old is Ginnie?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the reader learn about Muriel's mother during the "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" story?

2. Why is the reader uncertain whether Seymour is going to shoot himself, Muriel or both when he grabs the pistol out of the suitcase?

3. What happens to the Laughing Man?

4. What can the reader like about a character like Muriel?

5. Why does Eloise so fondly remember Walt?

6. What makes the reader think that perhaps Eric is not allowed into the military because he is homosexual?

7. What happens with Seymour and the trees?

8. Who is the Chief?

9. Who is the Laughing Man?

10. Why does Muriel insist that Seymour isn't capable of harmful actions?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do we learn about World War II throughout Nine Stories? Why is it such a prevalent theme throughout this collection of short stories?

Essay Topic 2

The wealthy and bored housewife character is written about in a couple of the short stories in Salinger's collection. Explore this character by comparing and contrasting the women. What do they have in common? Why is this a returning type of character in the collection?

Essay Topic 3

Mental illness because of WWII trauma is an issue brought up in more than one story in the Nine Stories collection. Why do you think this is such a prevalent topic Salinger uses? Talk about the importance of this topic in the collection. Pay special attention to the time in which the book is released. Why does this have been a controversial collection of stories because of the mental illness component?

(see the answer keys)

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