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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 happens when Richard hits the "delete" key?

2. What is Charles doing when his teacher comes looking for him?

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

4. What had Mark's son done when the attendants put the mask on him?

5. To what location do David, Billy, and the neighbor travel after the fog rolls in?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. "Word Processor of the Gods" could fit into several different genres. Which genre do you think it fits into best and why?

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

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

7. In "Paranoid: A Chant," there are several instances in which the narrator is showing how obviously disturbed he is. Give one such example and tell why you think that example fits.

8. 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?

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

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

"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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Conflict in any story or novel is developed by interaction between protagonist and antagonist. Choose any one of the stories in "Skeleton Crew" and identify the protagonist and antagonist in the story and the conflict that develops between them. What does this add to the story?

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