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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 Hazel do with Mrs. Martin?

2. Which historical figure keeps intruding upon the narrator's thoughts?

3. According to the narrator, what does Edith look like?

4. To what story does "The Maid-Servant at the Inn" allude?

5. What does the girl in "The Last Tea" think about girls who drink alcohol.

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the resolution of "Big Blonde" illustrate that Hazel's troubles are recurrent cycle?

2. In "Mrs. Hofstadter on Josephine Street," how is Horace the exact opposite of what the narrator and her husband are looking for?

3. Explain the allusions in the poem "Guinevere At Her Fireside."

4. In the poem "The Last Question," what is the purpose of the italicized lines?

5. What story is told through the poem "There Was One"?

6. How does the narrator of "Lady With a Lamp" make Mona feel worse rather than better?

7. In "Soldiers of the Republic," what does the narrator learn about the life of a soldier?

8. Explain the irony in "Ninon de Lenclos, On Her Last Birthday."

9. How does Hazel Morse lose her own identity in her efforts to please others in the short story "Big Blonde"?

10. Compare the poems "Ultimatum" and "Requiescat." How are they similar?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the ways in which some characters in Dorothy Parker's short stories exert control over other characters. What methods do they use to gain and maintain this control? What purpose does this control seem to serve? What seems to be Parker's attitude toward these "controlling" characters? Be sure to include specific examples and quotations to support your points.

Essay Topic 2

Choose two characters from different short stories that seem to share similar traits and analyze their similarities and differences. How do these similarities influence their respective stories? What do these character's reveal about the author's attitude toward her topic? Be sure to include specific examples and quotations in order to support your observations.

Essay Topic 3

Many of Dorothy Parker's characters suffer from addiction. Examine the roles that alcoholism and other addictions play in the fates of her characters. What leads the characters into addiction? How do these addictions affect their lives? What seems to be Parker's attitude toward those who suffer from addictions? Be sure to support your ideas with specific examples and quotations from the text.

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