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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 passage in which Otis Moss confers with Obama, noting, “Those of us who were part of the movement, giants like Martin, lieutenants and foot soldiers like me…we are the Moses generation. […] You, Barack, are part of the Joshua generation” (122) offers an example of which of the following?

2. Which of the following meanings is attached to the acronym FOB in the memoir?

3. In what year does Obama note cloture came into practice?

4. At which of the following firms does Obama note working after marrying Michelle?

5. How large is the “butter bust” of Obama’s head created by Norma Lyon?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Super Tuesday referred to by that name?

2. What reasons does Obama report for reading constituent letters?

3. What reasons does Obama give that those who knew him as a teenager would have doubted he would seek political office?

4. How does Obama define “too big to fail” companies within the context of the 2008 financial crisis (181)?

5. What does Obama label as the “big sort” in politics?

6. What is the overall tone of the first section in Chapter 10, describing the Oval Office, and how is it conveyed?

7. What is the primary rhetorical approach Obama uses to persuade David Axelrod to support his attempt to win a U.S. Senate seat, and why is it the primary one?

8. What is the primary rhetorical approach Obama uses to persuade Michelle to support his first attempt to win political office, and why is it the primary one?

9. How does Obama note his campaign staff defines the term “gaffe”?

10. What justifications does Obama provide for asking Robert Gates to stay on as Defense Secretary?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Obama writes, “By nature I’m a deliberate speaker, which, by the standards of presidential candidates, helped keep my gaffe quotient relatively low. But my care with words raised another issue on the campaign trail: I was just plan wordy, and that was a problem” (83). Does the memoir bear out the observations thus made? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

If there is a single, dominant theme in the memoir, what is it? What in the text indicates as much? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Many sources attest to the presence of A Promised Land on the New York Times best-seller list. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the memoir? How does it do so?

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