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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 Grealy look down on?

2. What does Sanders say about a tool verses a machine in "The Inheritance of Tools'?

3. What does Ofri think about her diagnosis in "Merced"?

4. Where is Ehrlich spending the spring in "Spring"?

5. What is Ehrlich reflecting on in "Spring"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hoagland say is the one thing that can prevent suicide?

2. Why do you think McClanahan was so willing to ignore her husband's infidelities from the essay "Book Marks"? What acts of hers show it?

3. Why was McPhee thinking of his mother in the "Silk Parachute"?

4. Describe Aldrich's mother from the essay "Hair."

5. What does Petit say about the Twin Towers in "The Turning Point"?

6. How does Tan learn English in "Mother Tongue"?

7. Describe what Frazier did with his friends as a child in the essay, "A Lovely Sort of Lower Purpose."

8. Explain McPhee's connection to the parachute from the "Silk Parachute."

9. Do you think Ofri realizes she cannot have control over life or death in the essay "Merced"?

10. How does Grealy respond to pain in the essay "Mirrorings"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how the role of the parent in "Silk Parachute" and "The Inheritance of Tools" are similar and different. Does one essay place more importance on the parent?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the role that 'secrets' play in the essays, "The Blue Machinery of Summer" and "Book Marks."

Essay Topic 3

List and describe the religious elements in Barry Lopez's "The Stone Horse."

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 564 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample