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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. Where does RIchard take a job?

2. Who is the only person among Richard's family in Chicago who does not fall ill?

3. What political party are many of Richard's friends members of?

4. What reason does Shorty give for not joining Richard?

5. What character working in the hospital basement scares Richard?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the white employers at the optical factory arrange a boxing match between Richard and Harrison?

2. What does Richard decide at the end of the book?

3. What problems does Wright find in New York City?

4. How do the white man and black man use Richard to help them move the liquor?

5. Why do Richard's fellow comrades begins to shun him?

6. Why does Bill terrify Richard?

7. What problems does Richard face as publicity agent for the Federal Negro Theater?

8. Why does Richard find Chicago so startling?

9. How do Richard's white co-workers in the cafe shock him?

10. Why does Shorty amuse Richard?

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

Identify the main themes of the book. Why do you think these themes are so important to the book? How does Wright use character and setting to express his themes?

Essay Topic 3

Examine black femininity.

1) In what did the whites oppress black femininity?

2) How did the white man's oppression of black femininity affect black women?

3) How have black women reacted to the oppression of their femininity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 861 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample