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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The author states in the Foreword, “In trying to dramatize the devastation that even casual racial contempt can cause I chose a unique situation, not" what?
(a) “A representative one.”
(b) “An imaginative one.”
(c) “A realistic one.”
(d) “A classic one.”

2. Who does Frieda say told her about menstruation in Part II?
(a) Mildred.
(b) Sammy.
(c) Pecola.
(d) Claudia.

3. Mrs. MacTeer exclaims during her diatribe in Part II, “I got about as much business with another mouth to feed as a cat has with” what?
(a) “A top hat.”
(b) “A wheelbarrow.”
(c) “Side pockets.”
(d) “A wristwatch.”

4. In the third narrative of the Jane story in Part I, what has been taken away?
(a) Consonants.
(b) Punctuation.
(c) Spacing.
(d) Vowels.

5. What is the name of Pecola’s brother in the novel?
(a) Fowler.
(b) Woodrow.
(c) Henry.
(d) Sammy.

6. According to Toni Morrison in the book’s Foreword, “The extremity of Pecola's case stemmed largely from" what?
(a) “The poorest of luck.”
(b) “A crippled and crippling family.”
(c) “A series of bad choices.”
(d) “Societal pressures.”

7. The author states in the book’s Foreword, “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was" what?
(a) “Something one could do.”
(b) “Something that could inspire.”
(c) “Something to cherish.”
(d) “Something that could remind.”

8. In what year does the author say in the Foreword that she began the “story” that would eventually lead to The Bluest Eye?
(a) 1944.
(b) 1957.
(c) 1938.
(d) 1962.

9. The author describes "seeing oneself preserved in the amber of" what, in the novel's Foreword?
(a) “Justice.”
(b) “Collective memory.”
(c) “Disqualifying metaphors.”
(d) “Time.”

10. In the second narrative of the Jane story in Part I, what is missing?
(a) Every noun.
(b) Spacing.
(c) Every other word.
(d) Punctuation and capitalization.

11. What does Pecola’s mother demand that Pecola’s father get out of bed and go get for her in their argument in Part II?
(a) Flour.
(b) Milk.
(c) Eggs.
(d) Coal.

12. In the book’s Foreword, the author writes that the book arose from a conversation she had with a childhood friend who wished that she had what?
(a) Freckles.
(b) Blue eyes.
(c) Blond hair.
(d) Green eyes.

13. Part I of the novel begins with a story about a girl named Jane and her brother, who is named what?
(a) John.
(b) Bill.
(c) James.
(d) Dick.

14. Who is described as “still trotting up and down Sixteenth Street talking to herself” in Part II?
(a) Miss Forrester.
(b) Baby Jenny.
(c) Miss Bertha.
(d) Auntie Julia.

15. Who arrives to play with Jane at the end of the story in Part I?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her father.
(c) Her brother.
(d) A friend.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is the narrator’s sister in Part II?

2. The narrator in Part I says that for years she believed the reason the marigolds didn’t bloom was because she had done what?

3. Of what dancer does Claudia say in Part II “was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me”?

4. The narrator in Part I says that at first they thought there were no marigolds that fall because Pecola was what?

5. The narrator says in Part I that there were no marigolds in the fall of what year?

(see the answer keys)

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