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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. What word does Lily like to say?

2. What did Lily promise her mother?

3. Where does Ernestine say her family moved to?

4. What is the name of the dance Lily danced in Act One, Scene 4?

5. What is Father Divine’s nickname for Godfrey?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Godfrey discover Father Divine?

2. What is Godfrey and Lily’s conflict about drinking?

3. Why does Lily say she likes to dress well?

4. How does the death of their mother affect the family before the move to New York?

5. Why does Lily say she is unemployed?

6. How does Lily describe white women’s physical appearance?

7. Why does Lily say she never married?

8. What does Lily say and do to flirt with Godfrey?

9. How does Ernestine imagine her apology to the school?

10. What are Sundays like in the Crump household?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many plays use a third-person omniscient character or chorus as narrator. The character of Ernestine is the only character in the play who breaks the third wall and directly addresses the audience with repeated asides. Write an essay examining the role of Ernestine as the play’s narrator.

Essay Topic 2

Following the death of a family member, different characters employ different coping mechanisms – ranging from politics and religion to alcohol and entertainment – to self-medicate their grief. Write an essay examining the role that escapism plays in the play.

Essay Topic 3

Race is brought to the forefront when the father of a Black family brings home a white woman as his new wife. Write an essay examining the role that race plays in the play.

(see the answer keys)

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