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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. In Everything We Ever Wanted, the girls are now how old?

2. How are the brown boys like lightning, according to the narrator?

3. Regarding the commandment for the girls to not be wayward, what is also not allowed to be discussed?

4. What does the narrator say the other boys are?

5. Often the brown mothers ask if the girls are listening, as they seem to be ignoring their mothers. What are the girls thinking but not saying?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the boys in Brown Boys?

2. Why do the brown girls like the other boys better than the brown boys?

3. How do the girls handle the situation with Joseph Justin O’Brien?

4. Why might the narrator repeat that the homes the girls live in are neat but hidden, peripheral?

5. Why do the brown girls call their teachers terrible names?

6. Who are the guests who stay with the brown girls and their families? Why are they there?

7. In Your Own Kind, what are the reasons are given for why the girls should not date outside of their own community?

8. How do the girls feel when family members and friends leave their homes for other cities?

9. What does the narrator say happens to girls who are caught sneaking out or coming home late?

10. How does the narrator describe the community in which the brown girls live?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Racism and prejudice is an important theme in Brown Girls. What are two examples of racism or other prejudice in this novel? Is this surprising to you? Why or why not? How does this affect you? How does this theme permeate the entire novel?

Essay Topic 2

Queens has changed since the brown girls were little. How has it changed? What do the girls think about these changes? What do these changes reveal about the locals, as well as those in high positions in local and federal government?

Essay Topic 3

Struggle is an important theme in Brown Girls. How do the girls struggle? Do they overcome these obstacles? If so, how? If not, why not? How is this a universal theme? How do you personally relate to this theme and the characters and events in this novel?

(see the answer keys)

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