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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 kind of school did Malcolm have to attend while at the Gohannas?

2. Where is Malcolm's mother homeland?

3. What is the name of the Jewish man for whom Malcolm works?

4. Who is the only person in Harlem that Malcolm says he trusts?

5. What war is Malcolm being drafted into in this chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Summarize Chapter 7

2. How did Malcolm feel the press are trying to divide the black community?

3. Why is Malcolm appreciative of the two incidents in this chapter- the trip to Boston and the teacher's unfair treatment of him?

4. Why does Malcolm change his surname from Small to X?

5. How does Malcolm feel about the way he treats Laura in Chapter 3?

6. In ways does Malcom learn that thing are not always as they appear?

7. What is the main thing Malcolm says he gets out of dating a white woman?

8. Describe Malcolm's reunion with Archie.

9. Why is the nation of Islam so important to people like Malcolm?

10. Describe what Malcolm does when he meets a white woman in Chapter 4.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why did the slaves have their names changed upon arriving in America? What effect did it have on their families' identities?

Essay Topic 2

Look at Spike Lee's adaptation of the book. Is it how the students would visualize the book? Do the students think the film is objective? What new meaning do the students think that Denzel Washington and Spike Lee bring to the work? How different do the students think the film would be if it were directed by a white director or starred, for example, Samuel Lee Jackson?

Essay Topic 3

Look at the structure of the novel.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?

2) Examine the way both Malcolm and Alex Haley use the other people in the story to express Malcolm's ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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