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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. What did the girls say to boys who called August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela's names in Chapter 7?
(a) "We are better than you and your stupid friends."
(b) "Don't even say my name. Don't even put it in your mouth."
(c) "Don't look at us. We hate you."
(d) "Stop trying to get into our pants. We know what you want."

2. Who was August's "Mommy" talking to when August, her father, and her brother left Tennessee?
(a) Ghosts.
(b) Fairies.
(c) Uncle Clyde.
(d) Another man.

3. What is the origin of August's birth name?
(a) August's parents were married in August.
(b) August was born in the month of August.
(c) August was her mother's favorite month.
(d) "August" sounded beautiful to her mother.

4. At the start of Chapter 2, what year does the narrative shift to?
(a) 1976.
(b) 1973.
(c) 1984.
(d) 1990.

5. When did August visit her father in New York City (5)?
(a) Christmas Day.
(b) New Year's Eve.
(c) Thanksgiving Day.
(d) August's birthday.

Short Answer Questions

1. When August was a child, what statement did she always tell her brother when he asked about their mother?

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

3. Toward the end of Chapter 7, what did August want to say to her mother about trusting women?

4. What vocation did Sylvia believe her father wanted her to become when she was older?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Coney Island described in Chapter 4?

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

3. What does August say about the music of her childhood in Chapter 1?

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

5. What does the jar of ashes represent in the novel?

6. What is the significance of the quote that opens the novel?

7. What tragic event befell Gigi when she was 12?

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

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

10. Why did Gigi warn her friends not to sing in their churches' choirs?

(see the answer keys)

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