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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. How does Bobby lose everything?

3. Why is the narrator of De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period going to art school?

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

5. Where are Mrs. Snell's matches from?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. How does Boo Boo handle Lionel's habit of running away?

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

7. Why is the narrator so taken with Sister Irma?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dialogue is used heavily throughout the book. Cite examples of the use of dialogue that are especially memorable. Why is dialogue so important to this short story collection? How does it help the reader? What does dialogue keep from the reader?

Essay Topic 2

New York and Connecticut are widely used throughout the book. What generalizations can be made about each city after having read Nine Stories? Do you want to go to either place? Do you live in either place? Does the story collection make you want to visit either place? Use examples from the book to explain your answers.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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