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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 7: Part II--God’s Language, including the essays “The Trouble with Paradise” through “Faulkner and Woman”.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Black Matter(s)," what does Morrison say she means by "American Africanism"?
(a) A claim for expansion of the literary canon to incorporate Black writers.
(b) A Black literary movement that centers Africanness.
(c) The historic systemic oppression of Black Americans.
(d) A white-American construct that defines "American" against a fabrication of Blackness.

2. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison says that a key "absence" in writing about racism is the omission of its impact on whom?
(a) Women.
(b) Non-Black minorities.
(c) Perpetrators.
(d) Future generations.

3. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison says that the public interest has been redefined as what?
(a) Class warfare.
(b) Private interest.
(c) Extremism.
(d) Special interests.

4. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison proposes to show how memoir is similar to and different from what?
(a) History.
(b) Fiction.
(c) Literary criticism.
(d) Poetry.

5. Where does Morrison say we erroneously turn for answers to contemporary social problems?
(a) Religion.
(b) The past.
(c) Science.
(d) Literature.

Short Answer Questions

1. Morrison's reading of fiction about Africa written by non-African writers reminded her of what part of her childhood?

2. In "God's Language," what does Morrison say is the place of religion in African American culture?

3. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison remarks on the absence of what in slave narratives?

4. In her "James Baldwin Eulogy," Morrison makes an allusion to what Biblical story?

5. In "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," Morrison compares the old woman in the story to what?

(see the answer key)

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