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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 do Richard and his friend find bootleg liquor?

2. Where do the Hoffmans operate their store?

3. What does kind of company does Richard join?

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

5. What does Richard say he feels like when a Jewish boy comes in to time how long it takes for him to clean?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Shorty amuse Richard?

3. Why do the black Communists mock Richard?

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

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

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

7. Why does Bill terrify Richard?

8. Why does Richard want to read H.L Mencken?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the structure of the book.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?

2) Examine the way Wright uses other people in the story to express his ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Examine the beatings Richard's family inflicted upon him. Why did Richard's family beat him so much? What effect did the beatings have on him? Why were such beating typical of that time period?

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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