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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. How is Joyce's house described?

2. What does Joyce do for a living?

3. What kind of encounter does Ava have with two young men after she got her medicine?

4. Who does Ava talk to about a rash of break-ins that have occurred lately?

5. In what place did Ava dream she was walking?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did the Sewing Circus meeting a Joyce's house go so well?

2. What does Ava tell Joyce when she returns from Eddie's after the Sewing Circus?

3. What do Joyce and Ava mean by the word tumbling and how did it that meaning come about?

4. How does Ava feel when leaving church?

5. Why does Ava get angry at the pharmacist when she went to get her prescription?

6. What do Eddie and Ava do after talking and how does Ava feel about it?

7. What does the success of the Sewing Circus move Joyce to do?

8. What do Eddie and Ava want Joyce to do and how do they try to convince her?

9. How are the two sisters reacting to Imani's presence in the house?

10. What happens when Ava and Joyce watch Frank and Mattie's house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Time has also taken its toll on the lives of those closest to Ava, and we learn of the difficulties suffered by Joyce, Joyce and Ava's mother, Eddie and even Ava herself. Their stories are different, but the theme of success in spite of adversity is starting to emerge through the glimpses of character that the author reveals in these early chapters.

1. What do you think is meant by this statement? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

2. Do you think adversity can make a person try harder to be successful? Why or why not?

3. Do you think Ava, Joyce and Eddie's lives are any more difficult than most people's? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Cleage makes the case for an alternate view on the stereotypes assigned to black people by introducing people like Joyce, Ava and Eddie, whose goodness may be challenged at times but is always at the core of what they do.

1. What do you think is meant by this statement? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. What do you think people can do to not judge others by stereotypes? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. How do you think stereotypes get started and how can they be stopped? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

The author's use of time shifts is an effective technique that allows her to share Ava's thoughts without the benefit of dialogue with another character.

1. Why do you think using flashbacks is an effective technique to tell about Ava? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. Chose one scene in the book that is a flashback and rewrite it as a dialogue between Ava and another person to convey the same information. Which method did you like better?

3. Write a brief summary of what you learned about Ava via the flashbacks. Include not just facts but her emotions and thoughts.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,032 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample