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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. Why does Richard not find Bess attractive?

2. Who joins Richard in Memphis?

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

4. Where do Richard and his friend find bootleg liquor?

5. Where does Richard move to?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Richard realize as he stands in line at the relief station?

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

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

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

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

6. Why does Bill terrify Richard?

7. Why do the black Communists mock Richard?

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

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

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

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 Wright's writing style. How would you describe the prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? Does he use any specific writing techniques? What meaning does Wright's style give to his story?

Essay Topic 3

Examine black masculinity.

1) In what ways did the whites oppress black masculinity?

2) How did the white man's oppression of black masculinity affect black men?

3) How have black men reacted to the oppression of their masculinity?

(see the answer keys)

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