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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the remainder of the characters say in Poem Five keeps them from crying and dying?
(a) Writing.
(b) Reading.
(c) Singing.
(d) Dancing.

2. What is the setting of this work?
(a) Europe.
(b) America.
(c) Asia.
(d) Africa.

3. Where is the lady in purple from?
(a) Outside Houston.
(b) Outside San Francisco.
(c) Outside Baltimore.
(d) Outside Detroit.

4. When the other character's speak in Poem Two, what do they comment on?
(a) Their memories of baptism.
(b) Their sexual experiences.
(c) The fun they had in high school.
(d) Their favorite New Year's Eve.

5. Who does the lady in brown call to at the beginning of Poem One?
(a) The lady in blue.
(b) The lady in red.
(c) The lady in green.
(d) The lady in purple.

Short Answer Questions

1. What game do the characters play at the end of the play?

2. In Poem Six, which character says,"these men friends of ours/ who smile nice/ stay employed/ and take us out to dinner"?

3. What does the narrator mean when she says, "dark phrases of womanhood/ of never havin been a girl/ half-notes scattered/ without rhythm" in Poem One?

4. What do the characters ironically suggest in Poem Six?

5. What does the main character in Poem Four read to the audience?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the playwright use music in the play?

2. Describe the character in Poem Fourteen.

3. Why do the characters end the play on a good note, despite the journey?

4. What does Poem Eighteen allow the characters to do? What do the characters use the poem to describe?

5. How does Ntozake Shange juxtapose the images in Poems Six and Seven?

6. Describe the language and imagery in Poem Four.

7. Where does the lady in blue move to in Poem Eleven? How does she view her new neighborhood? Why does she view it this way?

8. How did the lady in red discover God?

9. Based on the information in Poem One, what is the play about?

10. Describe the poetic imagery in Poem Six.

(see the answer keys)

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