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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. From whose point of view is this chapter written?

2. Whose face is that Beloved thinks she has lost?

3. Why does Paul D think the article must be sensational?

4. What does Denver say she drank from Sethe's nipple?

5. What does Sethe decide about Beloved?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Sethe's sons leave to fight in the Civil War?

2. Why does Stamp ask about a woman he does not know?

3. Why do you think Halle smears butter over his face?

4. Why does Sethe want to kill her children?

5. Why do you think Sixo yells out "Seven-O, Seven-O"?

6. Why do you think think that the slaves take names such as Baby Suggs?

7. Why do Sethe and Denver need Beloved to be theirs?

8. Why does Stamp Paid show Paul D the article about Sethe?

9. What does Sethe walking around in circles symbolize?

10. What do you think the single, unbroken paragraph in chapter twenty signifies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Take one white character and one black character and compare their backgrounds and character goals. How does Morrison represent white characters? How does she represent the black characters? Do you think they are both accurate depictions?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the connotations of the word "nigger"?

1) What is its original meaning and what has it come to mean?

2) Why is it considered so wrong to use it now?

3) Do you think the word has become too powerful?

Essay Topic 3

Look at the historical setting of the novel.

1) What were the rights of the ex-slaves? Were their lives any better? What kind of jobs did they get?

2) Was slavery completely abolished at this time?

(see the answer keys)

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