View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which friend of August's had similar hands to her mother, as mentioned in Chapter 4?
(a) Angela.
(b) Sylvia.
(c) Sonja.
(d) Gigi.

2. In Chapter 2, what did August notice about the white people in her apartment building?
(a) The white people were causing riots and violence.
(b) The white people were always fighting and arguing in the hallways.
(c) The white people were jovial and friendly.
(d) The white people were moving out of the building.

3. In what condition did August, Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi find the man who raped Gigi in Chapter 4?
(a) The man had "a needle clinched and dripping from his left hand" (59).
(b) The man hid underneath the stairs "waited for the girls and jumped out like he wanted to rape all the girls" (58).
(c) The man was "asleep, alone, and snoring" (59).
(d) The man "...was shooting up heroin and had a look the girls had never seen before" (54).

4. How long has it been since August's childhood when she describes her father's funeral?
(a) 15 years.
(b) 20 years.
(c) 10 years.
(d) 6 years.

5. Where did August's mother's brother, Clyde, go to college? (51).
(a) University of Tennessee.
(b) Brown University.
(c) University of Texas.
(d) Howard University.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who reminded August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela of the old man who ran a sketchy shoe repair shop?

2. As a young girl, why did August roam the streets at the start of Chapter 3?

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

4. How did August's father die?

5. What did August and her brother feed the neighboring children in her apartment building at the end of Chapter 6?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Who was Miss Dora and how is she described in the narrative?

4. What did August think about Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi when she first saw them?

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

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

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

8. Why did August think that her mother would come to her in Brooklyn while growing up?

9. What led to August's father granting August and her brother more freedom after they had moved to Brooklyn?

10. What is the career choice that August has chosen? Why is this significant?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 919 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample