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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. What floor does Seth say he's got a room available on?

2. What does Bertha tell Seth to get ready for?

3. What is Seth having difficulty finding at the beginning of Act 1, Scene 3?

4. What does Herald Loomis say his profession is?

5. How many dustpans does Seth have to sell Selig on his second visit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Molly say about her father?

2. Describe Bynum's meeting with the shiny man.

3. How did Seth and Bertha come to have an empty room when Martha first came to the boardinghouse?

4. What does Bertha advise Mattie about Bynum?

5. What does Loomis say that the wave in his vision washed up?

6. What reason does Bynum give for why he doesn't think Herald Loomis is a gambler?

7. When Bynum presses Loomis, saying "then...what happened," what does Loomis tell about his vision?

8. What does Bynum say in defense of Loomis?

9. What things does Bynum say a woman taught Jeremy?

10. What does Martha say happened to her when Herald was taken away?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the losing of the self in the play.

1) How does Loomis lose himself and his identity in the play? Why can't he reclaim it?

2) What is the significance of a person's Song, as Bynum describes it, and how does losing one's Song equate to losing one's self?

3) How can characters find themselves? Which characters are still lost at the end of the play?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the play, there are forces that bind people and forces that tear people apart. Discuss these forces.

1) What types of things bind people to each other and to places and lives in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? How do negative binding forces (like the chains of slavery) affect the other things that bind people together or to elements of their lives?

2) What types of things tear people apart in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? What role might tearing apart have in building identity?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of music throughout the play.

1) What role does the Juba play? What type of music is this? What is its origin and meaning, and why does it make Loomis angry?

2) What role does Jeremy's music play in the story? Why does he carry his guitar with him? What does his music say about his character?

3) What role does the song "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" play in the story? Is it important that Joe Turner's name is embodied in song? Why does the name come to Bynum through a song?

4) How does the Binding Song or Bynum's father's Healing Song relate to the role of music in the play?

(see the answer keys)

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