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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. How many students get together to swim to the raft in the middle of the lake?

2. Where is "The Wedding Gig" set?

3. What ultimately happens to Charles's teacher?

4. Where is the inventor's splinter displayed?

5. How did Richard get the word processor?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the "Execute" button on the word processor, and how does Richard feel when looking at that button for the first time?

2. The creator of the teleportation device used in the jaunt first experimented with mice. What is the significance of the first trip taken by the mice?

3. Stephen King is apparently trying to make his reader think when reading "The Jaunt." Do you think King wrote this story with that challenge in mind, or do you think he wrote it for pure entertainment?

4. "The Wedding Gig" is rife with metaphors, figures of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. For example, "Love is a rose" is a metaphor. Identify a metaphor from "The Wedding Gig" and identify the two things being compared.

5. While Randy is trying to save Deke from being sucked between the cracks in the raft by the black, oil-like creature, what is Randy doing to try and stay sane through the unbelievable situation?

6. What is the purpose of King's use of a "Wouldn't it be funny if . . . ?" beginning to his short stories? What do you think this method adds to or detracts from his stories?

7. In what format is "Paranoid: A Chant" written, and what significance does it lend to the story?

8. Why do you think Charles calls the bathroom the basement in "Here There Be Tygers"?

9. The narrator seems to follow a theme throughout the story. What is the main theme the narrator displays?

10. In "The Mist," what do you think is the underlying message the story conveys to the reader? Cite examples from the story.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The "willing suspension of disbelief" is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literature where the writer infuses a human interest and a semblance of truth into a fantastic tale, encouraging the reader to suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. The horror genre must often employ this method to keep a reader's interest. Choose an example of willing suspension of disbelief from one of the stories in "Skeleton Crew" and outline how it employs this formula and why it works for this particular tale.

Essay Topic 2

The general atmosphere created in a story is often referred to as "tone." Identify the tone of the following short stories and describe how it adds or detracts from the story itself:

1. "The Mist"

2. "The Reaper's Image"

3. "For Owen"

4. Either of the "Milkman" stories

5. "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut"

Essay Topic 3

Character development can be difficult in a short story with less opportunity available for detail. What are some examples of well-developed characters within these stories? How does King manage to develop them so thoroughly? Do you think other characters in these stories were less developed? Do you think this detracts from the story?

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