The document contains questions about short stories, poems, and literary terms discussed this semester. It asks about specific details and themes in stories like "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, poems by Pablo Neruda and Billy Collins, and motifs and devices used across various works. The questions gauge understanding of characters, symbols, metaphors, and the author's purpose through allusions, word choice, and literary techniques.

1. A1 Olympics
Short Stories Poetry The Bluest Eye
Punctuation/
Literary Terms Vocabulary Grammar

2. Short Stories
1 2 3
4 5 6

3. 1
Short Stories
What are the two types of crickets in the short
story “Crickets,” and what do they symbolize?
Charcoal crickets and fire crickets. Charcoal crickets
represent big, strong, slow Americans while fire crickets
represent the small, quick, smart Vietnamese.

4. 2
Short Stories
What is a motif in “What We Talk About When We
Talk About Love,” and what is Raymond Carver’s
purpose in using it?
Alcohol. It is used 1) as a distraction for the characters
2) to reveal their true thoughts about love as they
became less inhibited or 3) to show the passage of
time.

5. 3
Short Stories
In Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” what
atmosphere is created? How?
Fear. Through the gradual building up of the security
devices. Through repetition of you have been warned.
Through the mention of robberies and killings.

6. 4
Short Stories
The protagonist of “Story of an Hour” dies from “a
joy that kills.” Why is this ironic?
Because it is not joy that kills her but the misery of
seeing her husband, and losing her freedom.

7. 5
Short Stories
Read the lines below and explain what story they are from and what they
reveal.
“I’m standing here by the road long time, yesterday, day before, today. Not
the same road but it’s the same--hot, hot like today. When they turn off
where they’re going, I must get out again, wait again. Some of them they
just pretend there’s nobody there, they don’t want to see nobody” (213).
“What Were You Dreaming” by Nadine Gordimer.
Reveals a first-person narrator who is uneducated,
poor, and furstrated.

8. 6
Short Stories
Read the lines below and explain what story they are from and how they
connect to this semester as a whole.
“...but now I would have to shift gears and find pleasure in hating them. The
only alternative was to do as my mother had instructed and take a good
look at myself. This was an old trick, designed to turn one’s hatred inward,
and while I was determined not to fall for it, it was hard to shake the
mental picture snapped by her... Were this the only image in the world,
you’d be forced to give it your full attention, but fortunately there were
others” (12).
Self-hatred and desperation lead to our own destruction:
The Bluest Eye, Night Women, Crickets, Us and Them,
Hatred of others also leads to our own destruction:
Story of an Hour,What We Talk About..., Once Upon a Time

9. Poetry
1 2 3
4 5 6

10. 1
Poetry
What is the allusion in Ralph Pomeroy’s poem
“Corner”? Why is this significant?
A wild-west shootout. It is a satire of this
feigned male toughness.

11. 2
Poetry
Why are the names like Florence and Ben
significant in Billy Collins’ “Traveling Alone”?
They represent our shallowness. How we rarely go any
further than learning people’s names. We don’t care
about how they feel, who they are, etc.

12. 3
Poetry
What literary device is represented in the lines below. Also,
be sure to state their purpose and what poem they are from:
you on the approach,
you waiting at my bus stop,
you, face in the evening window. (lines 8-10)
Anaphora, to express the embittered tone of the
narrator towards his ex-girlfriend. “Special Glasses.”

13. 4
Poetry
What country is Pablo Neruda from, and what
were his political beliefs while he was alive? Did this
affect his life in any way?
He is a Chilean poet who was a member of the
communist and socialist parties. He lived in exile in
Argentina and Europe.

14. 5
Poetry
Neruda’s poem “If You Forget Me” could be about a
beloved, but it could also represent what?
His relationship with his homeland of Chile.

15. 6
Poetry
Who does Billy Collins think are the true geniuses
in life? Why?
The swans because they live naturally, peacefully, and
they “know how to fly” (line 16).

16. The Bluest Eye
1 2 3
4 5 6

17. 1
The Bluest Eye
Who is the author of “The Bluest Eye”?
Toni Morrison

18. 2
The Bluest Eye
Who are the two people referred to in these lines:
“Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty. A surge of love
and understanding swept through him, but was quickly
replaced by anger. Anger that he was powerless to help
her” (174).
Pecola and Soaphead Church

19. 3
The Bluest Eye
What might Pecola’s yearning for blue eyes
represent other than the desire for beauty?
Perhaps she wants to see the world through the eyes of
a white child--a world that she believes is less violent and
more loving.

20. 4
The Bluest Eye
What is the difference between being “put out” and
being “put outdoors” (17)?
Being put out - you had to go somewhere else
Being put outdoors - you had nowhere else to go

21. 5
The Bluest Eye
Who feels “ruined” in The Bluest Eye? Explain why
and who causes this.
Frieda feels ruined because Mr. Henry touched her
chest.

22. 6
The Bluest Eye
At the end of the novel, Claudia admits that “This soil is bad
for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture,
certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own
volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no right to live.
We are wrong, of course, but it doesn’t matter. It’s too
late” (206). First, what does the metaphor of the soil and
flowers refer to? Second, why does she say it is too late?
Soil - black culture, her neighborhood, white society
Flowers - Pecolas of the world
She believes it is too late to change the opinions of the black people
who have accepted this self-hatred. She also thinks they will never
alter the white people’s perspective that blacks as inferior.

23. Literary Terms
1 2 3
4 5 6

24. 1
Literary Terms
What is it called when a word like “makeup” has
multiple meanings.
denotation

25. 2
Literary Terms
What is the difference between tone, mood, and
atmosphere?
Tone - attitude of the narrator or author
Mood - the emotion the author wants the reader to
feel
Atmosphere - the overall mood of a poem or story

26. 3
Literary Terms
List three literary devices used in “The Tornado” to
get across a chaotic atmosphere.
asyndeton, symbolism of black, and absence of
punctuation

27. 4
Literary Terms
What is a paradox, and provide an example.
A statement that reveals a kind of truth, which at first seems
contradictory.
A silent scream...I say the most by listening
"Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America--that
we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement."
(Tom Wolfe)

28. 5
Literary Terms
In “Tonight I Can Write” the narrator says,
“To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her” (line 13).
What is the poetic device used here and what does it reveal? (Not
anaphora.)
Caesura. This hesitation midline shows his confusion
over losing his beloved.
Parallelism. Reveals his connection with her still.

29. 6
Literary Terms
List 12 different literary terms in less than one
minute.
Simile, and 11 others.

30. Vocabulary
1 2 3
4 5 6

31. 1
Vocabulary
Define the word irresolute.
hesitant or uncertain; indecisive

32. 2
Vocabulary
Define the word contemptuous and change it to a
noun.
showing a lack of respect. CONTEMPT

33. 3
Vocabulary
Use the word precocious in a sentence as an
adverb.
He was precociously gifted on the guitar, and played
beautifully in front of a packed house of admirers.

34. 4
Vocabulary
Give three different definitions for the word keen.
1. showing interest
2. having a sharp intellect
3. sharp (knife)

35. 5
Vocabulary
Say 10 of our words in under one minute. (Don’t
you dare look at the wall.)
Imagine 10 words written here.

36. 6
Vocabulary
Say and define 10 of our words in under 90
seconds. (Don’t you dare look at the wall.)
I was too busy to write them down.

37. Punctuation & Grammar
1 2 3
4 5 6

38. 1
Punctuation & Grammar
Explain where and why a comma is necessary in
this sentence: On top of all that nonsense Mr.Topf
wants me to write a bloody poem.
On top of all that nonsense, Mr.Topf wants me
to write a bloody poem. (Prepositional phrase)

39. 2
Punctuation & Grammar
Insert a semicolon into this sentence and explain
why it’s necessary: She stared at me through the
window I could feel her eyes expressing more than her
words ever would.
She stared at me through the window; I could feel her eyes
expressing more than her words ever would. (A semicolon
separates two independent clauses when a conjunction is
not used.

40. 3
Punctuation & Grammar
What is wrong with this sentence:
Everyone of them see the problem in the sentence but
you and I.
Everyone of them sees the problem in the sentence but you
and me.

41. 4
Punctuation & Grammar
Write a sentence using a dash, and explain the two
main reasons dashes are used.
She loved me--or at least I thought she did--but when
she ran off with Mr. Pruzinsky, I knew I would never get
her back. (Change of thought...add emphasis)

42. 5
Punctuation & Grammar
Conjugate the following verbs into their past
participle forms: go, lay (down), drink
I have...gone, lain, drunk

43. 6
Punctuation & Grammar
What is wrong with this sentence:
Shipwrecked on a desert island, coconuts and other
fruits formed the basis of the sailor’s diet.
Dangling modifier: Shipwrecked on a desert island, the
sailors relied on coconuts and other fruits as the basis for
their diet.