View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Jesse turn to as an explanation for everything?

2. What is one of George's habits?

3. What do the writer and the carpenter have in common?

4. Why does the writer get out of bed and start writing?

5. When David and Jesse are in the forest, what makes David run?

Short Essay Questions

1. What makes Wash say that "all women are dead, even when they are alive"?

2. How is Wing different around George?

3. What makes Jesse believe that the other farmers are enemies of God?

4. What annoys George as he waits for Louise in the story "Nobody Knows"?

5. What happens to Wing's teaching career?

6. What does Alice realize when she gets home after the night she runs naked in the rain?

7. What does the drunken stranger say about women and love to Tom and Tandy?

8. Why does George go to Belle's house?

9. Why does the woman in the doctor's office have blood on her in "Paper Pills"?

10. What does Joe tell George about decay in "A Man of Ideas"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The format of "Winesburg, Ohio" is unique. How does this format help Anderson convey his message about the people of Winesburg? Is this an effective device? How does the format help or hurt the stories of these characters?

Essay Topic 2

How does the farm work as a setting in "Winesburg, Ohio"? Discuss the use of the farm as a setting, including the emotions connected with farms, family obligation, events tied to farms and the symbolic language used to describe farms.

Essay Topic 3

How does "The Book of the Grotesques" set up the rest of the book? What are "grotesques"? Choose three characters and analyze them according to this description of grotesque.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 732 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample