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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. Why does Evelyn think she is better than Ruby?

2. What does Jackie talk about to try and get attention?

3. How did Renard's mother die?

4. What do Mama, Daddy, and Aunt Ruby wear to relax?

5. What is wrong with the neighborhood school's sign?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Renard mean when he says there are different ways to leave a person?

2. What does Jackie pass on her way to and from her apartment each day?

3. Why is it important that the reader knows Nelson was from a Senegalese family who did not mix race?

4. Why does Renard believe he would not qualify for a good job if he enlisted in the war efforts?

5. What does it mean when Sybil states that crack is not complicated?

6. Why did people not believe that Sybil would go to law school?

7. Why does Jackie make fun of her parents?

8. How is Evelyn's physical appearance described, and why is this important to the story?

9. Evelyn says that Renard completes her. What example does she give?

10. What does Jackie like the most about her new job?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Freedom and its expansive nature convinced you it could last forever" (69). Write an essay explaining how this rumination of T.C.'s does or does not affect the choices he makes when he is released from prison.

Essay Topic 2

T.C. feels a sense of "not-quiteness" (64). and believes that not having been a real Junior has affected him. Write an essay, citing examples from the text, on what that means and why T.C. feels different from other people.

Essay Topic 3

Jackie has felt chronic grief since Terry left her. Write an essay citing the ways Wilkerson Sexton both subtly and directly shares with the reader that Jackie is in a depression.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 746 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample