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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 does the Grandmother ask the Misfit?

2. Why does Grandmother lie about the silver?

3. What does Grandmother tell the Misfit when he starts to talk about his family?

4. What does the Misfit do when Grandmother recognizes him?

5. What does the Grandmother tell the Misfit for the second time as Bailey and John are being lead away?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is O'Connor's portrayal of a serial killer unconventional?

2. Why do you think children make the Misfit nervous?

3. Is it significant Misfit claims he cannot remember his crime?

4. Why is Grandmother so delighted that the Misfit suddenly shows an interest in Jesus?

5. In what way does O'Connor describe the three men approaching their car in ominous terms?

6. Why does not O'Connor tell the reader what Bailey says to his mother?

7. Describe Bailey's relationship with his mother?

8. How does Bailey's negative attitude towards his mother affect her?

9. Is Grandmother a selfish person?

10. In what way does O'Connor present the Grandmother as no better than the Misfit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The story occasionally expresses Grandmother's character as a racist, though she seems to deny it. What to you think grandmother saw and was taught to think to come to such a point of view? Was it a problem in the South at that time? Can a person change if they deny their true feelings?

Essay Topic 2

Imagine you were faced with a serial killer. How would you react? Where do you think Bailey and his family went wrong?

Essay Topic 3

O'Connor does not give either the mother or Grandmother real names. What is the reason O'Connor does not give them names? Why do you think only the female characters do not have names?

(see the answer keys)

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