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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. After whom does the narrator say he wants to pattern himself?

2. What is it that people like Jack, Bledsoe and Norton have refused to do?

3. What is in the narrator's briefcase?

4. What does the narrator purchase in Chapter 13 that reminds him of home?

5. Which of the following is true about the narrator's position within the Brotherhood?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Ras' anger ironic?

2. Identify several mistakes that the narrator makes in his first assigned speech in Harlem.

3. How does Emma's conversation create a sense of foreboding?

4. What is meant by "white fever"?

5. Explain the irony of the figurine owned by Mary.

6. Describe one of the roles played by Rinehart.

7. What is the primary problem with the instructions given to the narrator to gather more members?

8. How does the narrator really feel about the gift of the chain from Brother Tarp?

9. Why do Dupre and his men choose a particular building to burn?

10. Explain why the "woman question" is typical of the Brotherhood's approach to issues.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On several different occasions, the narrator speaks directly to the reader, ending in his epilogue with "perhaps I speak for you...." Who do you think Ellison imagined as his most likely audience? If the various groups of people in the book could be allegorical representations of cultural groups--i.e. college administrators, blue collar employers, political party leaders, low income minority groups, etc.--what message would they perceive in the novel? Choose two or three different groups and tell how the story might speak to each of them.

Essay Topic 2

Someone has said that heresy is simply truth carried to an extreme. Explain, therefore, how either diversity or unity could be carried to an extreme, misused, and thus become heretical.

Essay Topic 3

Being invisible can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. By the end of the novel, how does the narrator intend to use his invisibility? Is the state of being invisible to the inner eye of other people something that can be changed? If so, how? If not, why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 933 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample