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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Grendel and His Mother," what omission from Beowulf does Morrison say is significant?
(a) The character of Grendel's father.
(b) The impact of Grendel's actions on the Danes.
(c) Grendel's relationship with his mother.
(d) Grendel's motivation.

2. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison introduces Rogin's commentary on Moby Dick for what purpose?
(a) As an example of how a canonical piece can be enriched by reading for the Black presence.
(b) So that she can rebut Rogin's reading of Moby Dick.
(c) To highlight the importance of Black scholarship.
(d) As part of her explication of the timeline of Western literature.

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

4. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," what element does Morrison say is an aspect of the European American response to chaos lacking in the indigenous response?
(a) Pragmatism.
(b) Wonder.
(c) Meditation.
(d) Disrespect.

5. In "Memory, Creation, and Fiction," what does Morrison say about basing characters on people she knows well?
(a) She does not do it, because it is immoral.
(b) She does it often, because real people provide a kind of accuracy that wholly fictional people do not.
(c) She does not do it, because real people do not provide enough room for her imagination.
(d) She does it often, because for her it is part of assembling the "collage" of memory.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "The Writer Before the Page," Morrison says that she wants to do what with her writing?

2. In "Invisible Ink," Morrison says that she deliberately introduces ambiguity into her novels for what purpose?

3. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison calls the "merging of forms" one of the key aspects of what literary movement?

4. In "Hard, True, and Lasting," Morrison says that she identifies the things she loves and values by doing what?

5. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison uses examples of literary partings between Black and white women to demonstrate what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “Invisible Ink," Morrison proposes that current ways of thinking about the interaction between reader and text are missing an element: the "invisible ink" that can manipulate the reader. Explain what she means by this.

2. In “Rememory," Morrison describes her writing process using memory and explains how it is similar to a thematic and narrative element in one of her books. What is her process, and which book's narrative does she see it reflected in.

3. In “Memory, Creation, and Fiction," what Black cultural aesthetic expectations does Morrison discuss as important in her work, and why is it important to her to use them?

4. In “Introduction of Peter Sellars," what are the main points of Morrison's praise for Peter Sellars as an artist?

5. In “Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison say Faulkner's influence on her has been?

6. In “Tribute to Romare Bearden," Morrison praises Bearden's work as a dialogue between artists; how does she see his work impacting her own?

7. In “The Site of Memory," what does Morrison say about how image and memory interacted for her in relation to her father's death and Song of Solomon?

8. In “Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison says that the two responses to chaos are "renaming" and "violence." What does she mean by this?

9. What point is Morrison trying to illustrate when she brings up Moby Dick in “Unspeakable Things Unspoken"?

10. In “The Trouble with Paradise" what reasons does Morrison give for leaving the racial identification of those in the Convent ambiguous?

(see the answer keys)

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