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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. Who is the face of the Just Say No movement?

2. What is one thing Renard is ashamed of when he meets Nelson?

3. What does Jackie say she was only halfway grown?

4. What do Evelyn and Miss Georgia do together?

5. Who do people tell Jackie she looks like a light-skinned version of?

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. What can the reader infer from the statement that Evelyn has tried to muffle herself her whole life?

4. How does Evelyn feel in Renard's presence?

5. What does the quotes, "The baby seemed to soften Sybil" (51). mean?

6. Describe Sybil's appearance. Why does it bother Jackie?

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

8. Describe Evelyn's adult relationship with her sister Ruby.

9. Nelson Junior is said to read backwards. What do you think that means?

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

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

World War II is going on during the first section of this novel. Write an essay citing examples from the text regarding different characters' opinions of Black Americans in the war efforts. Provide a quote from at least one character.

Essay Topic 3

Racism is an ongoing theme at the root of Evelyn's story. Write an essay describing what Jim Crow laws are. Include at least one example of how those laws affected Evelyn's family, specifically in the South during the 1940s.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 719 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample