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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 is the name of Easy’s former employer that he speaks with in Chapter 9?

2. In what war did Easy Rawlins fight?

3. Easy learns that who has been murdered when he makes it to John’s Place in Chapter 11?

4. Junior and Easy discuss which mayoral candidate who suddenly dropped from the race in Chapter 4?

5. In Chapter 2, Easy feels nervous about getting involved with Albright, because the white man reminds him of whom?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the second security guards outside of Albright’s office described in Chapter 3? What happens with Easy’s encounter with them?

2. How does Daphne’s persona change at the end of Chapter 13? Where does she go?

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

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

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

6. How is the setting of Joppy’s Bar described in the opening of Chapter 1? What are the clientele like here?

7. Who does Easy meet with in Chapter 9? What happens during this meeting?

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

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

10. What led Easy to volunteer for combat in the flashback in Chapter 14? How does he describe this choice?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze Easy’s experiences in Normandy in World War II. How did Easy’s inner voice lead him out of harm’s way during the war? What does this voice symbolize in the novel? How did Easy’s experiences in the war shape him as a character?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss the character of Daphne Monet in Devil in a Blue Dress. How do Easy’s preconceived notions of Daphne compare with her reality when he first meets her in Chapter 13? How would you characterize Daphne’s behavior toward Easy? What secrets does Daphne harbor in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Easy’s encounter with the police in Chapter 10. How does this interaction reinforce the theme of racism and prejudice in the novel? How does Easy respond to his treatment? How does his response differ from his reactions to Benny Giacomo? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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