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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. Who has a stroke in “Why Do the Heathen Rage”?

2. What does the doctor want Julian’s mother to do?

3. From what age has Mr. Head reared his grandson?

4. Who tries to get Francis to live with him after he is orphaned?

5. Why is Julian embarrassed by his mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mrs. Turpin do in the waiting room?

2. How are the two teenage girls in “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” hypocritical?

3. How does the old man wish to be buried in “You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead”?

4. Why does Asbury ask his mother to call for the priest?

5. Why does Calhoun visit his great-aunts?

6. Why does Julian accompany his mother on the bus?

7. Under what assumption does the daughter in “Good Country People” and mother trust the Bible salesman?

8. How does O’Connor get her title for “The Comforts of Home”?

9. Which character has the keenest sense of observation in “A Temple of the Holy Ghost”?

10. What happens to Mary Fortune?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mrs. Willerton in “The Crop” uses her fiction to escape into another reality. Analyze Mrs. Willerton’s fictional account to gain a sense of what she really wants in life? For example, what is suggested by Mrs. Willerton initially creating a mean unforgiving wife for Lot Motum? How does Mrs. Willerton come to his rescue? What is suggested by the crop loss and Lot Motum’s response?

Essay Topic 2

Many of O’Connor’s characters are similar. Which characters are the most similar? How do their life’s situations resemble one another?

Essay Topic 3

O’Connor’s work is often described as morbid, namely because she often has children die in her stories. How many stories have similarly neglected small children that die at the end? What does this represent?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 609 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample