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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 disappoints Old Dudley at the end of the story?

2. What is the mother in “The River” doing in the beginning of the story?

3. Who’s cabin does Mr. Shiflit walk to?

4. How old is Sally Poker Sash?

5. Who tries to befriend Hazel Motes?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What does Enoch Emery’s daily routine consist of?

5. Why is Hazel Motes reluctant to befriend Enoch Emery?

6. How does Mr. Shiflet convince the widow of his sincerity?

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

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

9. How does Mrs. Willerton feel about her daily life?

10. Why doesn’t the hitchhiker ride with Mr. Shiflet when he pulls over for him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many stories in this collection have an unmarried mother or sister and a son or brother carrying for the man. In how many stories in this collection does the author use a widow and an unmarried son as her main characters? What do they represent?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Religion

a. How does religion play a role in short stories in The Complete Stories?

b. What religious motifs arise again and again in O’Connor’s work?

(see the answer keys)

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