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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. Where is Easy Rawlins from originally?

2. Easy Rawlins expresses pride in owning what in the novel?

3. What has Mr. Albright made for himself to drink while waiting for Easy to arrive at home in Chapter 15?

4. What address does Easy tell Mr. Albright that Daphne is likely at with another man in Chapter 8?

5. Easy informs Mr. Albright that Daphne is likely with a man named what, in Chapter 8?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the primary setting of Devil in a Blue Dress? How does the author depict this setting?

2. How does Easy respond to Mouse’s murder in the flashback in Chapter 7?

3. How are the two policemen described that Easy encounters in Chapter 10?

4. What is represented through the animal imagery in Chapter 10?

5. What do Easy’s actions in Chapter 15 indicate about his character growth?

6. How does Easy feel about going to the Santa Monica pier in Chapter 8? Whom does he first meet there?

7. What does Easy learn about Navrochet’s murder in the flashback in Chapter 4?

8. What does Easy (and the reader) learn from Junior Fornay in Chapter 4?

9. How is Daphne Monet’s home described in Chapter 13? What is symbolic about Daphne’s interior design?

10. What do the police question Easy about in Chapter 10? How does Easy respond?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the character of Zeppo in Chapter 19 and Zeppo’s relationship to the theme of racial identity. How is Zeppo described by the other characters? In what ways does Zeppo stand outside of the prescribed notions of race?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and analyze the character of Matthew Teran in Devil in a Blue Dress. How does Easy describe Teran when he meets him? What prevents Easy from taking Teran’s money when he leaves the car? Who is the little boy that Teran keeps with him?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the quality of pride as seen in the character of Easy Rawlins in the novel. Why does Easy refuse to grovel to Mr. Giacomo for his job? How did Easy’s fighting in World War II influence his perceptions of race, equality, and pride?

(see the answer keys)

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