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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. What does one of the workers show Richard to demonstrate how dangerous working at the sawmill can be?

2. What do Granny and Addie give up their efforts to do?

3. Where does Richard work next?

4. What is Richard able to steal from the next white family he works for?

5. Who does Richard start working for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why can Richard not keep his promise to his mother not to fight white children?

2. Where does Richard first find his love for books?

3. What awkward question does Richard's prospective white employer ask him?

4. How do Pease and Reynolds treat Richard at the optical factory?

5. Why does Richard threaten Addie with a knife in Chapter 4?

6. What does Richard learn about the brother of one of his classmates?

7. How does Richard cut his ear?

8. Why does Richard think racism encourages theft?

9. What job does Richard find in Chapter 5?

10. What does Richard do with the money he steals?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine violence in the novel.

1) In what way does the violence play an important part in getting Wright's view across?

2) How do the students think the public reacted to the novel's violence when it was first published? How would the public react to such a book today?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the differences between the Jim Crow system and slavery.

1) What were the differences between the Jim Crow system and slavery?

2) In what way does Wright present the Jim Crow system as hypocritical and no better than slavery?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the religious connotations in the book.

1) How does Wright represent black people's relationship with Christianity?

2) Why does Sue change her Christian faith for Communism?

(see the answer keys)

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