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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. In "Wild Plums" who asks the young girl to go pluming?

2. In "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin," what instrument does the sister play?

3. In "The Country Husband" who is Anne?

4. Who wrote "That in Aleppo Once..."?

5. In "That in Aleppo Once..." what does the wife's former address turn out to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the evidence that the family in "Christmas Gift" are second-class citizens.

2. Why do you think the author chose to have a narrator listening to a friend tell a story in "The Other Woman"?

3. In "The Other Woman" do you think that the man truly loved his wife?

4. In "My Dead Brother comes to America," why do the authorities hesitate to let the family off the ship?

5. In "The Hitch-Hikers" what does Harris do to try to help the hitch-hikers?

6. In "The Killers" why doesn't the author tell the reader why Ole Anderson is going to be murdered?

7. When "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin" and "The Country Husband" were first published, how controversial was the subject matter?

8. In "The Country Husband" how does Julia make herself happy?

9. In "The Hitch-Hikers" what does the guitar mean to each of the characters?

10. Why do you think the murderers in "The Killers" belittle the restaurant patrons and take them hostage? Was this necessary?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "The Shawl," the Nazi soldiers exhibit a shocking lack of compassion throughout the story, while the subject matter and events evoke strong compassionate emotions from the reader. Explore and discuss the use of compassion to relay the story.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the coming of age theme within "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin."

Essay Topic 3

Explore and describe the appearance and roles of social class issues within a specific work. How do they affect the story? Include the following elements:

a) Race

b) Stereotypes

c) Morality

d) Education

Be sure to cite examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 904 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample