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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 does Glass Top provide for Sweet Jones, other pimps, and eventually Blood?

2. Bobby now has a new street name, Macking Youngblood or "Blood". Who gives Blood this name?

3. What happens to Henry after Mama and Bobby leave him for Steve?

4. What is the setting after Blood is released from prison the second time?

5. What is different about his meeting with Runt after her night's work in Chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what two ways does Pepper influence Blood?

2. Describe the con that Party Time and Bobby work on white men.

3. Bobby accepts the invitation to attend Tuskegee University initially and only leaves when kicked out for bad behavior. How is Bobby's decision to attend college indicative of his frame of mind at this age?

4. Why do Blood and Sweet Jones never discuss their differing opinions on white society?

5. What are two ways in which the Melody incident is haunting for Blood in Chapter 7?

6. At the end of Chapter 5, when Blood beats Runt for the first time, he begins to have flashbacks to his childhood and Mama. What insight do these flashbacks provide to Blood's life and personality?

7. Besides giving him his first street name, how does Weeping Shorty influence Blood's career as a pimp?

8. How does the Chapter 9 title "Butterfly" refer to Chris?

9. Why does Runt's failure to return after the wire beating prompt Blood to think about calling Mama in Chapter 11?

10. Steve is never given a last name. What might be some reasons for this in the author's mind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nature versus Nurture. Bobby Beck's choices as Macking Youngblood and Iceberg Slim can be described as a result of an unfortunate and violent childhood, bad environment and bad parenting/role modeling. Instead of following the example of Henry Upshaw, a man he loved and wanted to be like, Beck chose to follow the example of Steve and the pimps of the Chicago underworld. Is Beck's path in life inevitable given his resentment of women, his violent handling by his father and his available options as a black man in a white, segregated world? Identify key choice points for Beck at various points in his life and his perceived alternatives.

Essay Topic 2

Opinion: Like many of the Harlem Renaissance writers of youth, Iceberg Slim resorts to street vernacular and slang not just for the character dialogue in his book, but for his own first person account. In your opinion what contribution does this make to the book? Does it emphasize the gritty reality of the book? Does it make Slim just sound illiterate? Does it make the book easy or difficult to read? Does it contribute to the atmosphere of the book? Does it seem necessary?

Essay Topic 3

Only eight of the prostitutes in Slim's life are given names, generally those with whom he has the longest or most pivotal relationship (No Thumbs Helen would be an exception to this). Otherwise, he goes through hundreds of girls and none of them are named and few are even relevant to the story. How is this a reflection on the real motivation behind a pimp? Is pimping really about women or sex or relationships?

(see the answer keys)

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