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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. Why does it take Esme so long to write her first letter to the narrator?

2. What is the farthest distance Lionel ever runs away to?

3. Who is claiming to be an admiral?

4. Arthur says the only people he knows in New York are Lee and a bunch of ________?

5. How does the narrator in the story, For Esme - with Love and Squalor, receive the wedding invitation?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Arthur call Lee back and pretend Joanie is finally home?

2. Why is Sandra so worried about Lionel when he runs away in Down at the Dinghy?

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

4. Why does Esme's long and complicated letter soothe the narrator more than one from his family?

5. What does Arthur do for a living? How does the reader know?

6. Why does Lionel cry when he throws the key chain overboard?

7. Why does the narrator like the bulletin board outside the church so much in For Esme -- with Love and Squalor?

8. What happens to the narrator after he leaves the training course?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss irony as a theme throughout the Nine Stories collection. How is it used to create suspense, power and other emotions that are meant to draw the reader into the stories?

Essay Topic 3

Why is Nine Stories an important collection of short stories? What does it contribute to American literary history?

(see the answer keys)

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