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. Why does Richard not find Bess attractive?

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

3. What did Martin Garvey advocate for black Americans?

4. What does the black comrade tell Richard would bolster his credibility?

5. What do the black Communists brand Wright as?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Who was Marcus Garvey?

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Why does Bill terrify Richard?

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

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

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 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)

This section contains 818 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample