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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 old is the narrator’s sister in Part II?

2. The narrator in Part II says that her family’s house is “old, cold” and what color?

3. What does Pecola pray for every night, according to the narrator in Part II?

4. Part I of the novel begins with a story about a girl named Jane and her brother, who is named what?

5. The narrator says in Part II, “So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not want” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the apartment of the Breedlove family described in “Here is the House…”?

2. Who can be seen in Part I as characters that face trouble assimilating into “white society’s standards of beauty”?

3. How are Claudia’s feelings about Shirley Temple and about baby dolls illustrated in “Autumn”?

4. What commotion begins when Rosemary “tattles” on Claudia, Frieda, and Pecola for “being nasty” in “Autumn”?

5. What do Claudia and Frieda receive at the beginning of the school year in “Autumn”? What conversation consumes “the grownups” in the opening of this chapter?

6. According to some critics, the three versions of the reader presented on the first page of The Bluest Eye represent three lifestyles presented in the novel. What does the first version represent?

7. What does Pecola pray for every night, according to the narrator in “Here is the Family…”? Why?

8. How does the narrator compare the state of being “put out” with being “outdoors” in “Autumn”?

9. Is the setting of the novel focused on a specific societal group, or is the setting inclusive of different racial groups?

10. What foreshadowing is revealed by the narrator in the end of Part I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the feelings of guilt and shame that Frieda experiences after her encounter with Mr. Henry. Do you think that Frieda’s parents, friends, or other adults could have made it easier for Frieda by telling her that it wasn’t her fault? Why do you believe the adults did not do this?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the Foreword to The Bluest Eye. Discuss the author of the work and the overview of Morrison’s career as detailed in the text. What inspired Morrison to write the novel? What was Morrison’s objective in writing the book? Why did Toni Morrison contest the slogan “Black is Beautiful”? How does this viewpoint lend itself to the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Claudia and Frieda’s feelings about Rosemary, their next-door neighbor. What does Rosemary say to get Claudia and Frieda in trouble with Mrs. MacTeer when they are helping Pecola? Why does she do this? How is Rosemary described by the narrator?

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