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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison says that we can understand something important about literary "whiteness" by studying what?
(a) Changes to the canon over time.
(b) Literary Blackness.
(c) History.
(d) Black writers.

2. In "The Slavebody and the Blackbody," when Morrison suggests that writing about slavery cuts away at the scar tissue the blackbody uses to hide the slavebody, what technique is she using?
(a) Figurative language.
(b) Logos.
(c) Ethos.
(d) Allusion.

3. In "The Future of Time," Morrison uses repetition of what phrase?
(a) "The future is already catastrophe."
(b) "What will we think during those longer, healthier lives?"
(c) "We are being bullied into understanding."
(d) "Art is temporal."

4. In "A Race in Mind," Morrison asks for more thoughtful work from what group?
(a) Government.
(b) The press.
(c) Art critics.
(d) Authors.

5. Morrison's reading of fiction about Africa written by non-African writers reminded her of what part of her childhood?
(a) The first time she was called a racial epithet.
(b) Her own immigration to America from Ghana.
(c) When she struggled to understand a movie set in Asia.
(d) When the church collection plate was passed to raise money for Africa.

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

7. "Noblesse oblige" is a philosophy that urged the nobility to do what?
(a) Seize power from the church.
(b) Accumulate as much land as possible.
(c) Share their wealth.
(d) Prevent strangers from entering their lands.

8. According to "Harlem on My Mind," the term "postblack" refers to whom?
(a) Critics who make race the key factor in their analysis of works of art.
(b) Black artists who distance themselves from Blackness by identifying with white culture.
(c) Critics who refuse to evaluate Black art according to the aesthetics of the Black community.
(d) Black artists who want their art to be evaluated by aesthetic standards only--not classified according to their race.

9. In the story that opens "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," where does the old woman say the answer to the children's question is?
(a) In her eyes.
(b) In their hands.
(c) She doesn't actually answer their question.
(d) In their hearts.

10. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison's central claim is that women should not do what?
(a) Risk the gains women have made by trying to move forward too quickly.
(b) Undermine feminism by being too nurturing.
(c) Participate in corrupt institutions.
(d) Oppress other women.

11. What does Morrison say is at its greatest height since the time of the slave trade?
(a) The mass movement of people.
(b) The opening of boarders.
(c) Globalism.
(d) Legislative attempts to integrate newcomers.

12. In "Race Matters," Morrison says that she refuses to write in what voice?
(a) A masculine one.
(b) The slave's.
(c) The master's.
(d) A race-specific one.

13. In "Race Matters," what word does Morrison call an unsatisfying and shallow ending for Beloved?
(a) House.
(b) Audacity.
(c) Kiss.
(d) Remember.

14. According to "Harlem on My Mind," almost 28 years after the "Harlem" exhibit, the Guggenheim museum did what?
(a) Focused on the question of what makes Black art Black.
(b) Mounted an exhibition more concerned with Black politics than art.
(c) Devoted an entire exhibition to Romare Bearden.
(d) Excluded Black artists from a major retrospective exhibition.

15. Morrison's discussion of Huckleberry Finn in "Black Matter(s)" is intended as an illustration of what?
(a) Gothic Romanticism.
(b) American Africanism.
(c) Historical accuracy in fiction.
(d) The shadow of Puritanism in fiction.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.," what does Morrison say is MLK's legacy?

2. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison says that we must use freedom to do what?

3. In "The Slavebody and the Blackbody," what does Morrison call the "ghost in the machine"?

4. The ending of The Radiance of the King, according to Morrison, indicates that Clarence has undergone what kind of transformation?

5. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," what is a key factor in national identity?

(see the answer keys)

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