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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What adjective is used to describe the ceiling of the bank?
2. What term is used to refer to the bone parts damaged by the bullet entering Anders's head?
3. How many questions does the man with the pistol ask Anders before Anders answers "No" the second time?
4. What kind of shoes is the man with the pistol wearing?
5. What term is used to describe the chain reaction that happens within Anders's brain when the bullet hits a particular part of it?
Short Essay Questions
1. What season and time of day are portrayed within Anders's one witnessed memory?
2. What factors lead to the memory from "forty years past" (35) being called up rather than another memory?
3. What is ironic about the mural artist's portrayal of the story of Zeus and Europa?
4. What appears to be the source of the man with the pistol's anger toward Anders?
5. What event causes Anders to imagine a cartoon bubble and what does it say?
6. Discuss an instance of irony within the story.
7. How many years ago had the event at the center of Anders's one witnessed memory taken place?
8. What is Anders's reply to the question he is asked the third time he is called "Bright boy" (27)?
9. Wolff compares the speeds of what two objects within Paragraph 35?
10. What threat does the man with the pistol make against Anders before shooting him?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss the reasons why "Bullet in the Brain" uses an omniscient narrator and a plot that unfolds largely in real time. What elements of the story's themes lend themselves to these choices and what are Wolff’s intended effects on the reader?
Essay Topic 2
William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Wolff’s story “Bullet in the Brain.” Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the story.
Essay Topic 3
Discuss the instances of irony within the narrative of "Bullet in the Brain" and analyze Wolff's purpose for including each instance you discuss.
This section contains 867 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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