View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 4: "Part Four: The Tentacles of Caste".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" why does Harold Hale's daughter get called into her principal's office?
(a) For telling a teacher to call her by her last name.
(b) For holding hands with a White boy.
(c) For using walkie-talkies with her friends.
(d) For asking to be moved to a more advanced class.

2. In "The Vitals of History," what does Wilkerson compare an honest and rigorous study of history to?
(a) A child learning a new language.
(b) A mechanic using a diagnostic computer.
(c) A doctor taking a patient history.
(d) An archaeologist uncovering artifacts.

3. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what is Wilkerson's central claim?
(a) That American Blacks have historically been treated like animals.
(b) That even ordinary events like getting onto a bus reflect the premise that Blacks are inferior.
(c) That Black Americans have had to learn an elaborate performance of inferiority.
(d) That the caste system depends on all members of the lowest caste being treated as inferior to all members of the highest caste.

4. In the page 15 sentence "An old house is its own kind of devotional, a dowager aunt with a story to be coaxed out of her," the idea that the house has a story to tell is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Metonymy.
(c) Litotes.
(d) Personification.

5. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," Wilkerson explains that enslaved people were not allowed to cry as their families were separated. What is this meant to serve as an example of?
(a) Mockery.
(b) Stigma.
(c) Minstrelsy.
(d) Dehumanization.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Wilkerson's anecdote about the house inspector, how does he "see past the plaster" (17)?

2. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what does Wilkerson compare to the modern phenomenon of whites calling the police on Blacks who are just going about ordinary everyday business?

3. In the 1863 Draft Riots, what immigrant group perpetrated violence against Blacks?

4. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," what does Wilkerson say is the "greatest threat to a caste system" (224)?

5. According to "The Trials of the Middle Castes: The Race to Get Under the White Tent," what caused the Supreme Court to rule that "White" means "Caucasian"?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 462 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample