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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 is an "alfresco" area of a restaurant?

2. The word "oyster" to describe Matteen's paleness is likely chosen for what connotation?

3. What does the Irish slang expression "shift" mean?

4. Who tells Tansey to "be nice" (30)?

5. What is the likely rhetorical purpose of the midges and the fly mentioned in the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the four underage girls arrive at the club on the night the story opens?

2. Who is Martina's college boyfriend, and why is she thinking about ending the relationship?

3. Describe the narrator of "Bait."

4. What happens on the club's balcony, and what does it suggest about Val?

5. Describe Bat's recurring dream.

6. In what sense does Bat try to protect Tain's childhood?

7. Why does Bat think that something inappropriate has happened between Heg and Tain?

8. What does Tain bring with her to the bar, and what ends up happening to it?

9. How does Teddy end up in Bleak Woods, and what happens to him, there?

10. Who is the "Clancy kid," and what happened to him?

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 rhetorical purpose of the Young Skins motif of characters being identified by family characteristics--last names, physical characteristics, and so on. Use evidence from throughout the anthology to defend your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Young Skins features many characters who are lonely, but it also depicts characters who have made meaningful human connections. Write an essay that evaluates the loneliness of at least three characters and contrasts this with the situation of characters who do seem to have meaningful connections with others. Your essay should also make a claim about whether the anthology suggests that a romantic relationship, family, or a platonic friendship offers the most viable path to human connection.

Essay Topic 3

In interviews, Colin Barrett has said that it is important to him to portray his small-town characters as fully realized, complex human beings just as characters from more cosmopolitan backgrounds are generally portrayed. Has he succeeded? Write an essay that evaluates the anthology's depiction of small-town characters against this standard. Use evidence from at least four of the stories to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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