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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 Celie place as markers over her birthparent’s graves?

2. Who is the only person Celie has ever loved, aside from Nettie?

3. How old is Pa’s new wife?

4. Why was Shug so harsh with Celie when they first met?

5. Why don’t the Olinka people educate their daughters?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Nettie’s first impression of the Senegalese people she meets during her travels?

2. How does Celie react to the news that Pa has died?

3. How did Nettie come to live in Africa?

4. How has Corinne’s attitude changed toward Nettie since moving to Africa?

5. How has Grady’s life changed since moving to Memphis?

6. How is the outside world changing Olinka?

7. How does Celie react when she learns that Mr. has been hiding Nettie’s letters?

8. How does Billy get hurt on the day that Celie visits Sofia at the mayor’s house?

9. Who is Germaine, and how does Celie feel about him?

10. Why does Millie think Sofia is ungrateful?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the main difference between life in Olinka and life in America? How do the Olinka people react to the new missionaries when they arrive? How does this dynamic inform the race relations of America, where Shug and Celie are living? Be sure to include examples from the text to strengthen your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the revelation that Pa is not Celie’s true father. How does this realization change her life, and how does she feel about herself when the truth is revealed. How did Celie’s birth parents die, and how might her life have been different had she grown up with them rather than with Pa? Be sure to include examples from the text to strengthen your arguments.

Essay Topic 3

Describe Squeak’s character growth. How is her character described when she is first introduced to the reader? What major event changes the way she views herself, and how does this affect her choices later in life? Why does Squeak revert back to her birth name, Mary Agnes? In what ways is Mary Agnes (Squeak) still a victim at the end of the novel, even though she has taken back her independence? Be sure to include examples from the text to strengthen your arguments.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 952 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample