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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. Which member of the Maitland household wakes the rest of the family with her screams on the night when Fred is preparing to commit suicide?

2. The story told about footsteps in Footsteps: Chapter 2 features what type of couple?

3. The character who asks Jack to murder someone says that he will remove what objects in return?

4. What word does the hand emerging from Jack's shower have tattooed on its knuckles?

5. Guilt around whose death keeps Ralph from dropping the investigation at Jeannie's request?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who provides assistance to Fred at the scene of his attempted suicide?

2. Who is Bill Hodges and how does Ralph remind Holly of this man?

3. Who insists on joining the first meeting between Ralph and Holly and why?

4. In what manner did Terry come into contact with The Outsider, ultimately resulting in his indictment for murder?

5. What is King's reason for alluding to a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe?

6. What promise does Jeannie elicit from Ralph before he travels to meet the rest of the investigative team?

7. In what way does the motif concerning dreams and visions arise within The Outsider?

8. What characteristic of the corpse lying next to Jack in bed convinces him of its identity?

9. For what reason does Jeannie invoke the character of Sherlock Holmes during a conversation with Ralph?

10. What is the first sign Jack receives that makes him think his sunburn may be something else entirely?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose an object from The Outsider, such as the glowing eyes of The Outsider, the tattoos on Claude’s hands, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss King’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of The Outsider.

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by King in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of The Outsider. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve King’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

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