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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. "The Trouble with Paradise" is mostly about what?
2. In "The Source of Self-Regard," Morrison suggests that one reason that her work is widely taught is that it is what?
3. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison uses examples of literary partings between Black and white women to demonstrate what?
4. Morrison's novel "Paradise" is set where?
5. What is one of the main subjects of Beloved?
Short Essay Questions
1. In “The Trouble with Paradise" what reasons does Morrison give for leaving the racial identification of those in the Convent ambiguous?
2. 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.
3. In “Unspeakable Things Unspoken," who does Morrison credit with opening up the canon, and how would she like to see it further expanded?
4. In “Academic Whispers," what does Morrison say used to annoy her about being asked to speak about racism?
5. In “The Source of Self-Regard," what does Morrison describe as some of the contradictions that jazz contains?
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. According to “Goodbye to All That: Race, Surrogacy, and Farewell," what have been the changes over time in the literary handling of relationships between women of different races?
8. 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?
9. 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?
10. In “Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," what confuses Morrison about Stein's portrayal of Rose?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In "On Beloved," Morrison offers a metaphorical comparison between an image or piece of language and a key, and compares untraveled literary territory to an area locked behind a large locked door. Explain what she means by this comparison and how it relates to her writing of Beloved.
Essay Topic 2
In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, when he says, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here,” he is referring to the importance of his own speech versus the significance of the dead of the Battle of Gettysburg. Explain at least three similarities in tone and/or content to Morrison’s “The Dead of September 11.”
Essay Topic 3
In “Black Matter(s),” Morrison argues that American literature and “Americanness” have been shaped by the slave trade and by racism against Black Americans. Explain how she supports this claim and then evaluate the strength or weakness of her argument.
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This section contains 1,037 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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