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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 did Salvatore tell his mother after he took a good look at Assunta?

2. What does Salvatore tell his mother about Assunta?

3. What does Salvatore's mother tell him about a woman named Assunta a few months after he returned from military service?

4. How is Salvatore's laughter described when he bathes his child?

5. Where did Salvatore go to have a good look at Assunta before deciding whether he would marry her or not?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Salvatore do for work after he and Assunta married?

2. Though Salvatore found Assunta physically unattractive, what could she offer him if they married?

3. What did Salvatore's fiancé tell him "with the blunt directness of her race" (5) when he went to see her at her home after he returned rom military service?

4. Describe Salvatore washing his babies near the end of the story?

5. How is Assunta described after she and Salvatore marry? What does she look like? What type of person is she?

6. What happened to Assunta's fiancé?

7. What does the narrator say he set out to do in the story?

8. How did Salvatore's family learn he was not going to marry the girl he loved?

9. Why does Salvatore understand that the girl he loves will not marry him?

10. What would Salvatore do if his rheumatism became too bad for him to work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pick a character from the story and discuss their goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing language in "Salvatore." How would you describe the author's style? How does this style impact the reader's experience?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring the central purpose of this story. What response do you think the author hoped to get from his readers? Do you think he was successful? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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