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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. In what year of high school was Chuck when his grandfather Albie died?

2. On what object does the narrator of Act I: I Contain Multitudes blame the deaths of Chuck's parents?

3. How old was Chuck when his grandfather Albie died of a heart attack on the front steps of the library?

4. What quality does Holly NOT ascribe to Chet Ondowsky when she first sees him on television?

5. When Chuck dared himself to climb the stairs to the cupola, what object did he always touch?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens in the prologue of the story "If It Bleeds" and how does it set the mood of the story?

2. For what reason did Chuck transition from one home to another at age seven?

3. What does King mean when he writes of the cupola, "But fascination is fear's twin brother" (137)?

4. What kind of person is Holly's mother and how do you know?

5. How did Chuck react to the sight he encountered inside the cupola when he entered it for the first time?

6. Discuss the ultimate fate of the Outsider featured in the story "If It Bleeds."

7. For what reason does King include an allusion to Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" in Act I: I Contain Multitudes of the story "The Life of Chuck"?

8. In what way does the motif of dreams appear within the story entitled "If It Bleeds"?

9. At what age did Chuck start calling his grandparents Grandma and Grandpa and why?

10. Who are Pete and Jerome within the story "If It Bleeds"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look carefully at the passages of If It Bleeds that describe strong marriage partnerships, such as the longtime union between Chuck's grandparents. What is King’s purpose for extensively portraying the characteristics of a strong marriage and its power to transform?

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 King’s collection If It Bleeds. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the collection.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze one of the stories in King’s collection from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does the story suggest hold the most meaning and why?

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