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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. According to the narrator, what does May want humans to remember?

2. Why does Mrs. Widdup go into Mr. Coulson's room in the afternoon on the second day of the story?

3. What physical gesture of affection does Mr. Coulson make toward Mrs. Widdup?

4. Who is Miss Van Meeker Constantia Coulson?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

2. How does O. Henry use dry humor to reveal the narrator's opinion about Mrs. Widdup in the narrative intrusion on page 333?

3. How does O. Henry characterize the month of May?

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

5. What is the rhetorical purpose of the allusions to Puck and Circe?

6. In the passage where Miss Coulson stares out the window, the reader is told "The chirp of the sparrows gave her a pain. She mocked at May" (334). To what earlier passage is this a reference, and what is the significance of the reference?

7. 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).

8. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

9. What happens when Mrs. Widdup makes an excuse to go into Mr. Coulson's room to speak with him after the ice is delivered?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the narrative voice of "The Marry Month of May." Use both paraphrased and quoted textual evidence to support your claim.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a thesis about the significance of social class in "The Marry Month of May." Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that explores the way in which the story's setting impacts the reader's understanding of the theme of "The Marry Month of May." Use textual evidence to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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