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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. Which girl (August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela) was the most popular, as mentioned in Chapter 5?
(a) Sylvia.
(b) Gigi.
(c) Angela.
(d) August.

2. When August was a child, what statement did she always tell her brother when he asked about their mother?
(a) "She is gone...There is nothing we can do" (16).
(b) "She's coming...soon" (14).
(c) "She's coming...Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" (15).
(d) "Stop worrying. She loves us. She will come for us" (15).

3. How did August, Sylvia, and Angela respond to Gigi's rape?
(a) August, Sylvia, and Angela told Gigi that she could stay at Sylvia's house to get away from him.
(b) August, Sylvia, and Angela promised to find the man and kill him.
(c) August, Sylvia, and Angela made a plan to run away with Gigi.
(d) August, Sylvia, and Angela insisted that Gigi immediately tell her mother.

4. At the beginning of Chapter 7, what was "telling some part of our [August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela] story" (69)?
(a) The night sky.
(b) Every song.
(c) Blurry memories.
(d) Young boys.

5. What does the narrator claim is the most tragic thing about life (1)?
(a) The loss of a mother.
(b) The memory.
(c) The end of childhood.
(d) The moment.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did August want, do, and/or think, when she first saw Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi as a child in Brooklyn?

2. How did August's mother feel about friendships among women as indicated in Chapter 2?

3. What did August's mother sleep with under her pillow as stated at the start of Chapter 4?

4. At the end of Chapter 5, how did Sylvia respond when August, Gigi, and Angela asked her what she loved?

5. As indicated in Chapter 4, what did August say her father had to do, because they had to live without August's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did drug abuse factor into August's childhood?

2. What about Angela reminded August of her mother? Why?

3. Why does August say in Chapter 4, "We didn't understand the kind of poverty we lived in" (42)?

4. What did Gigi's mother tell her about her appearance when she was six?

5. What led to August's father taking his children to Brooklyn?

6. How is the novel structured? Is the story related in a linear fashion or nonlinear? Why is this important?

7. Who was Jennie and how is she described in the narrative?

8. What did SweetGrove represent to August when she was growing up?

9. What is the Nation of Islam? How does it factor into the novel?

10. From what perspective and tense is the story related? How is the novel framed?

(see the answer keys)

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