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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 the narrator warn the reader to "never trust" (333)?

2. Miss Coulson has a "lorgnette" (334). What is a lorgnette?

3. What is implied by the number of days for which Miss Coulson orders extra ice?

4. What kind of clam is a "chowder-doomed clam" (332)?

5. How much ice does Miss Coulson order be delivered each day?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Mr. Coulson comments that the spring weather is "lovely," his daughter replies "That's just it" (334). What does she mean by her reply?

2. Explain the titular allusion and the allusion to "the poet" in the first sentence of the story.

3. How does O. Henry use verbal misunderstandings to characterize Mrs. Widdup when she first appears in Mr. Coulson's room?

4. What is the thematic significance of the olfactory image of the city in springtime?

5. When Mr. Coulson complains that no one in the house cares if he lives or dies, how does Mrs. Widdup's reply set the events of the story in motion?

6. When rhetorical purposes are served by the passage where the narrator says that the scent of flowers was carried in through the window and "fought" with the scent of Mr. Coulson's gout medicine?

7. How do words like "yaller" and "lawsy" in Mrs. Widdup's dialogue characterize her?

8. What rhetorical purposes does O. Henry accomplish with his introduction of Mr. Coulson through a list of things that he "has," like gout, money, and a daughter?

9. When Miss Coulson says that the supposedly chilly weather is "An instance...of winter lingering in the lap of spring," what double meaning does she have in mind? (335).

10. What is the significance of the sound of the overturned chair after Mr. Coulson confesses his feelings to Mrs. Widdup?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you analyze the characterization of Mr. Coulson and make a claim about its significance in the story. Use textual evidence to support your claim.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you affirm, refute, or qualify the statement "The month of May functions essentially as another character in "The Marry Month of May." Offer textual evidence to support your ideas.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or qualifies the statement "The twist ending in "The Marry Month of May" is an 'unearned' twist, because it is not plausible given the story that leads up to it." Use textual evidence to support your claim.

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