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. To what does Robby compare himself and the other inmates?

2. Whose house did Robby go to after the heist?

3. What advice did Cecil get when he called his mother?

4. Why did Robby, Mike and Cecil leave this place?

5. Where does Robby say that Mike and Cecil got in a fight?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Robby and his crew do after the robbery?

2. How does John characterize Robby's relationship with Omar?

3. What does Robby say about educate for prisoners?

4. Why did Robby and his crew turn from drugs to crime?

5. What did Robby and Michael Dukes and Cecil Rice do sloppily while they were getting away?

6. Who was Red Murphy?

7. How did Robby and his crew pull off the robbery?

8. What did Robby and Cecil argue about?

9. How does Robby characterize his work with autistic kids?

10. How does John describe Robby's arrest after the drug deal in Detroit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast John and Robby's methods of speaking out. What do they say, when they have a chance? What are they prevented from saying? What does this tell us about the options black men have, for speaking up?

Essay Topic 2

Assess the proposition that prisons are an inhumane form of retribution for crimes such as Robby's.

Essay Topic 3

What is the genre of Wideman's book about his brother? Analyze the text and make an argument. Is it a memoir? A piece of advocacy? Journalism? History? Literature? Novel? A biography? Is it dated by its material, or is it timeless?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 769 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample