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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 liquor is Tasheta setting up for them when the writer returns to the room after trying to find out who her other sister is in "Dear Sister"?

2. In "Dear Sister," what do the letter writer’s sisters do after she tells them Chauncey tried to ask her out at the funeral?

3. Why does the little girl think the man who visits her mother is God?

4. What Is one of the things Eula tells Caroletta she plans to do to try to find a husband?

5. What class does Leelee teach on Friday afternoons?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Olivia feel after seeing the picture of Trevor and his girlfriend at the prom at the end of “Peach Cobbler”?

2. How long have Eula and Caroletta been meeting at a hotel to celebrate New Year’s Eve?

3. What happens in the daughter’s fantasy in which she feeds the pastor her homemade peach cobbler?

4. How does Olivia feel after the first time she and Trevor are intimate in “Peach Cobbler”?

5. What does Rhonda do for Leelee at the end of “Snowfall“ after they return home from work on the snowy day?

6. In “Peach Cobbler,” what was on the piece of paper the narrator’s mother handed her after the pastor left one day and why was it there?

7. What event compelled the writer to write to her sister Jackie in “Dear Sister”?

8. How does Caroletta feel when Eula asks her if she wants to die a virgin?

9. What do Rhonda and Leelee typically do on snowy days?

10. What questions does Olivia’s mother ask her when she returns from her first tutoring session at the Neely’s house in “Peach Cobbler”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay describing the author’s narrative tone and writing style in two of the stories from The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. Compare and contrast the author’s tone and writing style in each story. Use examples from the text as evidence for your argument.

Essay Topic 2

Many of the characters are viewed as sinful in the eyes of the church for their sexual interests or behaviors. Write an essay analyzing the theme of oppression and the church in two of the stories from The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Philyaw’s choice to write “How to Make Love to a Physicist” using second person point of view. What reason might the author have to write in this point of view? What effect does this have on the reader? And how does using second person point of view develop the theme of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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