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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 month is it when Lionel disappears in the story, Down at the Dinghy?

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

3. How many keys are on the key chain that Boo Boo gives to Lionel?

4. What does the narrator order with his tea when he sits down in the tea room to read old letters?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

4. Describe the narrator in For Esme -- with Love and Squalor.

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

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

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

10. Why is it ironic that the school closes down for not having a business license?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Salinger says he writes about young people so much because he wants to not only speak to them, but for them. Do you think he accomplishes that goal throughout Nine Stories? Why or why not? Use specific examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Being a meditating child genius that is unaffected by emotion, Teddy is one of the more unique characters in the collection. Explore and analyze Teddy as a character. How does his age affect the story? How do you feel about his lack of emotion on any topic? What makes Teddy so different from the other characters Salinger creates in the collection?

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