View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does White buy for Katharine with the money from the published story, The Lady is Cold?

2. Where does White travel to after disappearing from the New Yorker?

3. Where is Katharine's father a successful businessman?

4. What year does White create the cartoon featuring a caption that references the "most beautiful decision" of his life?

5. How does White describe the perception of him at the New Yorker office in July, 1931?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does White describe his meeting in Washington in January, 1942?

2. How does White discover the New Yorker?

3. What suggestions does White have for the New Yorker between 1932 and 1935?

4. Why did White first begin writing during his childhood?

5. What unscheduled vacation does White take from the New Yorker and how does he inform them of his absence?

6. Why does Katharine hesitate before agreeing to marry White?

7. As provided in his letters, what are some of White's opinions of the war and drafting?

8. What is Katharine Angell's background?

9. What does White do after he returns from his road trip?

10. Where were White's parents from and what is their background?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1925, White takes a big step in his career and begins working for the New Yorker.

1) Describe White's situation after he returns from his road trip and before he discovers the New Yorker magazine.

2) Explain how White first learns about the New Yorker and the way he begins writing for it.

3) Describe how White writes about his initial impression of the New Yorker and the people he meets there.

Essay Topic 2

E.B. White provides an autobiography about his family background as the preface for the "Letters of E.B. White".

1) Describe the background of White's parents and what led them to make their home in Mt. Vernon.

2) Explain which siblings White is closest to and why.

3) Describe the help and encouragement that White receives while growing up.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze White's early childhood and how it inspired him to begin writing. Also, include why he began writing at such an early age, his opinion of school, the subjects of his earliest letters, and how they show the initial development of his writing style.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 764 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample