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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What book does Hemingway believe all modern American fiction sprang from?
(a) The Red Badge of Courage.
(b) The Bible.
(c) Huckleberry Finn.
(d) Moby Dick.

2. According to Ellison what does the term "the grays" mean?
(a) Slang word for feeling bored.
(b) Negro term for white people.
(c) American melting pot.
(d) Negro term for nightfall.

3. What folk tradition does Ellison believe the black face figure grows out of?
(a) West Indies.
(b) Africa.
(c) America.
(d) Europe.

4. What does Huckleberry Finn recognize about the Negro character, Jim?
(a) Jim knows the landscape and can take Huck anywhere.
(b) Jim is not only a slave, but a human being.
(c) Jim is very ill and near death.
(d) Jim can make him lots of money if Huck will return him to his owner.

5. Why does Ellison choose to analyze Mark Twain?
(a) Twain was married to a Negro woman.
(b) Twain was a humorist.
(c) Twain was a slave owner and trader.
(d) Twain offers a unique historical perspective.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Ellison choose to analyze Ernest Hemingway?

2. Why does Ellison's family live in a middle class white neighborhood in Oklahoma City?

3. Where does Ellison grow up?

4. What are the three themes of "Shadow and Act" according to the Introduction?

5. What does Mark Twain do with the character of Jim that breaks through the black face minstrel tradition?

(see the answer key)

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