Short Fiction Test--Tuesday

This test has several goals, some of which may seem contradictory.  Some sections/questions are designed to assess your recall for detail--some of which may be crucial to the stories involved, others of which may seem to be fairly trivial.  Other questions may ask you to write fluently but fairly quickly about material you should know, assuming you read carefully and paid a modicum of attention in class.  But there will also be some questions--particularly on "Sonny's Blues" and the final section of "The Metamorphosis" that require you to have studied and thought fairly independently. Know authors and titles; be able to apply the fiction elements you studied to the stories we read.

Test Sections

• matching miscellaneous items with specific story (by title)
• solid sentence ID's--you will identify an item or phrase with a single sentence which is packed full of information (and must therefore represent mature syntax and sufficient complexity to include all that you need to say).  Such information must include the author, story title, accurate description or context, and the SIGNIFICANCE of the element you're being asked to write about.  We'll do an example or two in class on Monday.
•  paragrah/micro-essay responses.  There will be several of these (some choice allowed); the topics could cover any element of literary analysis, either on a single story or something that asks for comparison/contrast, or for the common strand that might connect disparate elements

There will NOT be an extended essay on this particular test--expect a separate in-class essay soon on "The Metamorphosis," and there will be a passage analysis timed write in the near future as well.  
Suggestion:
Always study college material not merely with an eye toward what you did in class/what your teacher "told" you and/or encouraged via discussion, but try to apply some independent thinking as well. In the case of these stories, the "heads-up" idea is to consider what they have in common. In particular, how are many of the narrators similar? What is the essential nature of the experience or growth that makes each character "dynamic"?  Are there connections you can make about other aspects of these stories?  I'm really not anticipating that you "guess" the questions first, but if your knowledge of the stories is fairly thorough, you should be able to think creatively and independently about all sorts of elements.