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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 course do 60 American enlisted men take in the story, For Esme - With Love and Squalor?

2. What is the narrator's most traumatic move in the story, De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period?

3. Where does the narrator see the talented young singer, giving him a chance to speak with her?

4. What does Lionel think a 'kike' is?

5. What does Arthur think he finds in the closets when he gets home every night?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Sister Irma withdraw from classes at the art school?

2. Why does Bobby move the family to Paris in 1929?

3. Why does Arthur call Lee in the first place of Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes?

4. Why does the tea room likely suit the narrator as a place to spend his last few hours in the town rather than the Red Cross recreation room?

5. Why does the narrator lie in his lengthy application letter to the art school in Montreal?

6. Why does Arthur want to move to Connecticut?

7. How does the story, Down at the Dinghy, end?

8. Why does Arthur think his marriage isn't working?

9. What do the pickles, key chain and goggles tell us about Lionel?

10. Why does the narrator and Bobby move back to New York nine years later?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Salinger's use of sudden and tragic endings to some of his short stories. What do you like about them? What do you dislike about them? How do they contribute or take away from the collection as a whole and each story specifically? Do you think it is a powerful way to end the stories? Why or why not? Use examples from the book to explain your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Lionel and Teddy. What does each character have in common? What makes them different? Analyze their challenges with family, beliefs and events.

Essay Topic 3

In For Esme - With Love and Squalor, a young girl becomes a powerful leader in recovery for the narrator. Why is Esme able to be so helpful to a solider that is so adversely affected by the war? What simple acts help him most? Why isn't his family able to help as much as Esme? How does a 13-year-old that he meets one time leave such a lasting impression?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 879 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample