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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. At what location do Homer and the narrator for "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" sit and swap stories?

2. What happens to Curt Garrish when he speaks with several of his peers on his way back to his dorm?

3. What happened to the first person to go through the jaunt?

4. What type of band did the main character in "The Wedding Gig" play in?

5. Who has passed away in "The Monkey," prompting family members to clean the home?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Here There Be Tygers", Charles returns to his classroom casually after the deaths of his teacher and classmate. What do you think this implies about what Charles has just experienced?

2. In "The Monkey," what does the stuffed creature represent to Hal? What fears does it reawaken within him?

3. What is the basic conflict expressed in "The Monkey"? Is there an implied winner? If so, whom or what?

4. What is the implied source of the infestation in "The Mist"? How does he make this implication? What do you think King is trying to say with this implication?

5. In "Word Processor of the Gods," what do you think about Richard's choice of his brother's family over his own? Is a choice made of faithfulness or greed?

6. What do you think is the importance of Curt's tale of Cain and Abel?

7. In "The Jaunt," Mark's family is destroyed by Mark's own deception. Given the reasons for his deception, do you think he was justified in his actions.

8. Compare/contrast the two rooms in the PAT. Why do you think they are so drastically different?

9. Homer compares Mrs. Todd to several goddesses. What is the purpose of this comparison?

10. What do you think Mike Scollay was implying when he told the coronet player that he was going to have to play loud?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The horror genre is one of the most uncomplicated forms of entertainment and is characterized by the author's effort to produce fear in the reader through the use of antagonists such as monsters, ghosts, or even feral animals. The basic concept is the same: the hero must fight against horrific forces for his life and often his soul. Choose one of the stories in "Skeleton Crew" and explain how it fits into the horror genre and how it follows the horror genre formula.

Essay Topic 2

An epiphany is a sudden, powerful, and often life changing realization that a character experiences in an otherwise ordinary moment. Can you think of an epiphany in "Word Processor of the Gods"? What is the epiphany? How will it change that character's life?

Essay Topic 3

In "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet," Henry is troubled by his strange friendship with an author named Thorpe. Almost as a joke, Henry encouraged Thorpe's paranoia about Fornits, tiny elf-like creatures. How did Henry's encouragement of Thorpe's fantasy lead to that fantasy invading Henry's life as well?

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