View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who throws Richard out of the May Day parade?

2. Who does the editorial attack?

3. Where does Richard move to?

4. Why does Richard wait two days before his departure to tell his boss that he is leaving?

5. What does the Party charge Ross with?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Bill terrify Richard?

3. In what way does Richard's situation take a turn for the worse when the Great Depression hits America?

4. What happens when Richard joins the May Day parade?

5. How does Richard borrow books from the white library?

6. Why don't Southern people like it when blacks move to Northern cities?

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

8. Why does Richard find Chicago so startling?

9. Why does Shorty amuse Richard?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the whites oppression of black people.

1) In what way could it be said that it was to the whites' benefit that they kept the black people down?

2) How much of the oppression was pure racism and how much was it due to fear?

3) In what way could it be said that the equality has benefited society?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss differences between the novel and autobiographical formats. What are the main elements of a novel? What are the main elements of an autobiography? What can Wright not express in an autobiography that he can in a novel? How does Wright use these limitations to his advantage?

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 817 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample