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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 condition made it almost impossible for the author's mom to walk during her last year of life?

2. In the Introduction, what is the title of the book the author cites as dealing with the interior of his life?

3. What is the title of the book the author wrote to tell the story of his father to a child?

4. In Part One of the book, what was not a tradition in the Buechner family in relation to death?

5. In complaining about her looks, what did the author's mother say "don't fit?"

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did the author feel like a dwarf as depicted in C. S. Lewis' "The Last Battle?"

2. What illness did the author's daughter have and how did it affect her?

3. According to the author, how does memory help us finish with the past?

4. How is the author's story, our story?

5. How did the author's mother's aging affect her life?

6. Why did the author's mother have so few friends as she got older?

7. What is the most sacred function of memory?

8. Describe the author's mother's bedroom in her 79th street apartment.

9. What did the author say he would deal with in this autobiography "Telling Secrets?"

10. Why is the author telling his secrets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of Part One of the book, the author talks about ministers losing themselves and setting aside their own experiences when they preach. Explain this position. Then discuss how the author views such behavior is detrimental not only to the ministers, but their congregations as well. Why does the author include these observations at this point in the book?

Essay Topic 2

The author introduces us to the Tower of London, specifically the the oldest part, the White Tower. What is the White Tower? Why does the author include this information in the book? How does the author connect the details he provided about the White Tower to himself, to his life?

Essay Topic 3

Explain what the author means when he writes that by watching and listening we are praying. How does God speak to us in quietness? What is "God's place" in us? What deadens us to God's presence within us? How does Psalm 131 illustrate these points from the author?

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