View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where at the Santa Monica pier has Easy agreed to meet Mr. Albright in the beginning of Chapter 8?

2. What kind of vehicle pulls up beside Easy as he walks to John’s Place in the beginning of Chapter 11?

3. How much money does Coretta make Easy promise to give her as a reward when he finds the white woman he’s searching for in Chapter 6?

4. How is Daphne Monet’s dialect described in Chapter 12?

5. In what neighborhood of Los Angeles does most of the action in Devil in a Blue Dress take place?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Where does Easy go when he leaves the police station in Chapter 11? What interrupts his journey?

4. What aspect of Easy’s character is revealed through his interactions with Coretta in Chapter 6?

5. Where does Easy take Daphne in Chapter 13? What do they find there?

6. How does Easy deal with his encounter with the first security guard at Albright’s office in Chapter 3? Why?

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

8. How is DeWitt Albright’s office described in Chapter 3? What does Albright ask Easy to do for him here?

9. What is revealed in Mouse’s letter to Easy in Chapter 7? How does Easy respond to the letter?

10. What concerns Easy about his exchange with the police officers in Chapter 10?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Easy’s altercation with the teenagers on the beach in Chapter 8. What causes the initial conflict in this chapter? Why does Easy not defend himself against the gang? How is the theme of racism depicted through this encounter?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 914 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample