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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. How long does Mama live after Slim is released from jail early?

2. Why is Slim in desperate need of cash after he is released from Leavenworth?

3. Where does Slim go with No Thumbs Helen?

4. What year is it when Slim is released from Leavenworth?

5. Who testifies against Slim at his federal trial?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is image, represented by material things, so important to a pimp?

2. Slim has two near-murder experiences in Chapter 20. Who does he nearly kill, how and why doesn't he?

3. How has Leroy been spending his years when Slim runs across him again in prison?

4. When Slim meets his biological father again in Chapter 14, what difference becomes clear between his father's treatment and his mother's treatment in Slim's decision to become a pimp?

5. What does the sewer in the chapter 15 title refer to?

6. Slim's story about the State Workforce seems a little light on truth in Chapter 18. What are some elements that seem perhaps questionable?

7. How does the Chapter 22 title "Dawn" reflect the evolution of Slim's life at this stage?

8. How does the relationship between Chris and Slim evolve during the 1940's in Chapter 14?

9. What consequences to others does Slim fail to consider before or mention after his escape in Chapter 18?

10. Why is Chris one of the few people who knows that Slim is addicted to cocaine in Chapter 13?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oscar, the inmate Bobby meets in State Reformatory School, is institutionalized after spending too much time in solitary confinement. After Slim (or Bobby, as he was then) witnesses Oscar's decline into madness and suicide, he internalizes this lesson and remembers it during his own stretch in solitary later on. It is integral to his desire to comply with the warden's demands to know the details of his escape. Solitary confinement is still utilized in certain circumstances in the American prison system (and many other prison systems around the world). The UN categorizes some uses of solitary confinement as torture or inhumane treatment. Why are humans so heavily impacted psychologically by solitary confinement? How can the experience of solitary confinement change depending upon the personality of the person incarcerated? In Slim's case, months in solitary confinement ultimately give the warden what he wants. Is solitary confinement an acceptable method for getting truth (or other desired behaviors) from someone? Is solitary confinement a necessary evil of the prison system or an inhumane exercise in cruelty against people who have no way of defending themselves?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 1, Bobby Beck's father suggests to his mother that they should leave Bobby on the steps of the Catholic church since they cannot afford him. Given the childhood violence Beck is exposed to and life that Beck subsequently leads, would this perhaps have been a better alternative leading to a better life? Consider what the upbringing of a black boy in a 1920's Catholic orphanage would have been like, the damage (or lack of) Beck/Blood/Slim inflicted on those around him and the ultimate result of his decisions and life path.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Steve and Slim's biological fathers. How are their influences on Slim's life and choices similar or different? Both will turn up again in Slim's life; how are those encounters different? How does Slim react to each encounter and how does he feel afterward?

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