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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 does Ted do after he becomes enraged at Mel?

2. What does Mel's first film concern?

3. Whom does Mel meet around the end of his senior year in high school?

4. What does Mel not know the origins of?

5. How does Mel feel when Lyla asks him to dance?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mel try to avoid being discovered as being gay?

2. Describe Mel's relationship with Gordon H.

3. What is Mel's memories of a boy named Darrel at camp?

4. What do White and Lyla do when they return from their honeymoon?

5. Why does White decide to go to Fuller Theological Seminary?

6. What was Lyla like in middle school?

7. What does White say is Martin Luther King's belief about Christian involvement in social change, and how does White feel about his response?

8. What does Mel say about whom he might blame for his homosexuality and his feeling miserable as an adolescent?

9. Where does White begin meeting gay men, and who is the "Dr. Smith" that White meets this way?

10. What does Mel White recall about a young seminarian who preached at a church camp Mel attends when he is twelve?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Define irony in literary terms. Discuss the irony of the situation whereby Mel White is a homosexual and works to promote the agendas of men such as Falwell who were rabidly anti-gay. Discuss two other incidences of irony in Stranger at the Gate.

2. Define symbolism in literary terms. Discuss the use of and meaning of five symbols found in Stranger at the Gate. Symbols are inherent in any work of literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, though in non-fiction, the use of symbols is not always intentional.

3. Discuss the use of foreshadowing in non-fiction. What is the purpose of foreshadowing in non-fiction? Cite 3 examples of foreshadowing and how it is indicates events to come in Stranger at the Gate. Can you as the reader see how what Mel White writes about his early life foreshadows what will happen in his later life?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. Do you believe Mel White was hypocritical in continuing to earn a living working for the religious right after he began to realize that he was probably homosexual? Discuss fully with examples from the text.

2. Why do you think Jerry Falwell refused to answer Mel White's letter requesting a discussion with White about homosexuality and the Christian church? Do you think Falwell handled this situation justly? Discuss fully with examples from the text.

3. Discuss the situation when Mel White decides to travel to Acapulco, Mexico to work with Billy Graham instead of traveling to Chicago to live with Tom Montgomery. What does this situation say about White? About Montgomery?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Does non-fiction have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of Stranger at the Gate, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot because of Stranger at the Gate being non-fiction? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in Stranger at the Gate. (They may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Explain. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

4. Do you think having a plot in non-fiction is important? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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