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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 woke the narrator in the night at the start of the story?

2. What is it said the house and swimming pool and car could not be insured against?

3. How was the plaque meant to indicate that the property owner was not racist?

4. Where were the riots said to be in the tale the narrator tells herself?

5. What begins to happen once the riots in the city are suppressed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the husband try to assuage his wife's fears when she worries people from the cities will tear off their warning sign and "open the gates and stream in" (26).

2. Despite having the same fears of intruders as other people, what precautions does the narrator say she does not take in her home?

3. Why is the narrator unable to sleep at the start of the story?

4. What precautions do the man and woman take against theft or natural disasters when they first move in to their home together?

5. What were the man and woman unable to insure their house against, and why did the man tell his wife they need not worry about that?

6. How is the man's mother described and what warning did she give her son and his wife as they start their life together?

7. What recent crimes does the narrator describe at the start of the story?

8. What does the man have installed in their house to ease his wife's fears and what does the boy do with them?

9. Describe the sign the man and woman received from the Neighborhood watch. How was it supposed to "prove the property owner was no racist" (25)?

10. What does the narrator realize is the cause of the creaking she hears in her home at the start of the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing the symbolic significance the man and the woman's economic status has on the story. Why is this important and how does it develop the themes of the story? What would be different if the family were poor? Use examples from the text to support your viewpoint.

Essay Topic 2

Look at the structure of the story. How does the author use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay describing the imagery used in “Once Upon a Time.” Indicate examples of imagery in the text and identify possible meanings.

(see the answer keys)

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