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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is the literary device used to show similarities among the years?

2. Which of the following adjectives would Sissie use to describe the mysterious man in the parking lot?

3. What does the mysterious man offer to take Sissie to do in Part 3?

4. Which of the following people does Sissie find handsome?

5. What is the current month when Sissie meets the mysterious man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Joyce Carol Oates use dialogue to convey parts of the story? Is dialogue vital to the story? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the title "Four Summers" to the story? How does it relate to the setting and Sissie's character development? Is the title so important that if it were changed, it would change the story's context? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

What role does the literary device parallelism play a role in the story? Compare and contrast each of the four summers to each other.

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This section contains 196 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample