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. What is the name of the drug doctors use to sedate the dogs?

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

3. Who joins Richard in Memphis?

4. What is Matther's nickname?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why do the black Communists mock Richard?

3. Why does Mrs. Moss end up disgusting Richard?

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

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

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

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

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

9. Why does Richard find Chicago so startling?

10. How do Richard's co-workers react when he tells them he is moving North?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the differences between the North and the South.

1) How did whites treat blacks differently in the South than they did in the North?

2) Why did black people stay in the South when people viewed it as so racist?

3) Why does Richard find life in the North just as unsatisfactory as he found life in the South?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss the values of early 20th century America

1) How did the whites view blacks in the early 20th century?

2) What significant changes do you think occurred during this period that changed the way whites viewed blacks?

3) Does today's society share any values with early 20th century America?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 879 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample