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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 did Mencken call his collection of writings?

2. Which of Lu Hsun's family members died when he was young?

3. What is a typical Virginia Woolf focus in her essays?

4. Who is Hsun addressing in his essay "Death?"

5. Who wrote "The Crack-Up"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Under what circumstances are Lu Hsun's "This Tool is Life" and "Death" written? What are the subjects of these essays?

2. What is the subject of E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake"? What is the message White relays about the state of the lake?

3. What is the subject of Krim's "For My Brothers and Sisters in the Failure Business"? What feelings does Krim express in the essay?

4. Describe the important events in Lu Hsun's life that impacted his personal essays.

5. What is Jose Luis Borges' perspective on his own increasing blindness, as revealed in his essay "Blindness?"

6. What views is Henry David Thoreau well known for? How did he believe one should live one's life?

7. What kind of literature did Virginia Woolf write? What was a common focus that united her work?

8. What is the subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Crack-Up?" What extended metaphor does he use?

9. How does Seymour Krim's life compare to Mary McCarthy's? How did Krim's childhood impact his writing?

10. What style is James Thurber known for? What was a common theme in Thurber's writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ambition is the topic of both Abraham Cowley's "Of Greatness" and Seymour Krim's "For My Brothers and Sisters in the Failure Business"?

A) Contrast the tone of each essay. What might tone reveal about the author's own state of mind?

B) What message does each author have the audience? What should the reader take away from the essay?

C) What advice might Cowley have for Krim?

Essay Topic 2

Physical conditions are the subject of Seneca's "Asthma" and Jose Luis Borge's "Blindness."

A) How does each man confront his condition? What is each man's attitude?

B) Seneca's philosophy is said to be Stoic. How does Borge's philosophy, as revealed in "Blindness," compare to the Stoic philosophy?

Essay Topic 3

Ivan Turgenev in "The Execution of Tropmann" and Seneca in "Slaves" both share strong opinions on slaves/servants.

A) What did each man reveal about the nature of "the slave and the servant" in his essay?

B) What did each man reveal about the nature of "the master" in his essay?

C) Compare the two philosophies. Are they compatible?

(see the answer keys)

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