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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. Richard deletes Seth and Lina and replaces them with whom?

2. Who is Brent Norton?

3. What does Richard realize about the word processor?

4. What happens when Mike runs out to confront the Greek?

5. To what destination is Mark taking his family by way of the jaunt?

Short Essay Questions

1. What significance does the word processor hold for Richard after Jon's death?

2. Why do you think King bases his entire introduction on a seemingly mundane conversation with a friend?

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

4. 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.

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. "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.

7. 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?

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

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

10. Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement. For example, "The sun was blindingly bright and hotter than ten thousand fires." Give an example of hyperbole from "The Wedding Gig" and give an explanation of why King uses it in this story.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Charles seems to be a boy with a very active imagination. In "Here There Be Tygers," what appears to be the motivating factor for Charles's tiger lurking in the bathroom (or basement as he calls it)? Is it fear, revenge, motivation, or possibly something else that makes the tiger real for him?

Essay Topic 2

Irony is the discrepancy between expectation and reality. Outline how the events that take place in "The Jaunt" are an example of irony.

Essay Topic 3

"Nona" is a story about a man who seems to be under the influence of an odd woman named Nona. Under her influence, he commits murder like he's been doing it all of his life. At the end of the story, Nona turns into a rat and the narrator leaves a suicide note. What do you think King's plot is in this story? Following the winding, sometimes foggy, storyline is at times difficult. What do you think the point of the story is, and what is the point of the narrator's suicide?

(see the answer keys)

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