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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. How old is Lucynell’s daughter?

2. Who tries to befriend Hazel Motes?

3. What do the boys do in the woods behind the farm in “A Circle in the Fire”?

4. How old is General Sash?

5. What does the boy in “The River” say his name is (though it isn’t)?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Ruller afraid something bad is about to happen?

2. Why does Hazel Wickers keep thinking about his mother?

3. Why does Rayber’s old barber call him a “mother hubbard”?

4. What is O’Connor’s message in “The River”?

5. What is Old Gabriel afraid of besides the wildcat?

6. Why is Enoch convinced that he must show Hazel Weaver the mummified man?

7. Though General Sash does not want to go to his granddaughter’s graduation, why does he agree to anyhow?

8. Why does Ruby dread Rufus’s arrival?

9. What dismays Ruby about Rufus choosing collard greens as his something “special” that she will make for him?

10. What does Old Dudley think about New York?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Children appear in many of O’Connor’s stories. What are the roles of children in O’Connor’s work? What happens to children in her stories?

Essay Topic 2

Many of O’Connor’s characters deep fears happen to them at the end of the stories. How does O’Connor use foreshadowing to warn her readers about what is to happen?

Essay Topic 3

How does Flannery O'Connor use the physically grotesque to illustrate the beautiful? Discuss the meaning she might have implied with the use of the one-armed man, the club-footed delinquent, the retarded young woman, and the neglected boy who seeks heaven in the river.

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This section contains 705 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample