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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who escapes unharmed from the tragedy that befell the old Johnson house?
(a) Maggie.
(b) Aunt Dicie.
(c) John Thomas.
(d) Dee and Ms. Johnson.

2. What does Ms. Johnson think Dee's companion does for a living because of his name?
(a) She thinks he's a barber.
(b) She thinks he's a lawyer.
(c) She thinks he's a college professor.
(d) She thinks he's a Musllim preacher.

3. Which character in "Everyday Use" delights in the chitlins and corn bread, greens and sweet potatoes Ms. Johnson serves for dinner during Dee's visit?
(a) Wangero.
(b) Maggie.
(c) John Thomas.
(d) Hakim-a-barber.

4. Whose name is twice as long and three times as hard as Wangero's in Ms. Johnson's opinion?
(a) Dee's college professor.
(b) Dee's pastor.
(c) Dee's college roommate.
(d) Dee's male companion.

5. What does Ms. Johnson call Dee's companion in her thoughts?
(a) George.
(b) The Muslim.
(c) The barber.
(d) Asalamalakim.

Short Answer Questions

1. After dinner, who goes into Ms. Johnson's room and riffles through the trunk at the foot of Ms. Johnson's bed?

2. Who does Dee say she will never bring to visit her family's home?

3. What does Dee want to match a green suit she makes from an old suit someone gives her mother?

4. Who in the Johnson family had the name Dee before Dee and the woman for whom Dee was named?

5. Who makes the sounds in the kitchen?

Short Essay Questions

1. What references to racial prejudice are there in "Everyday Use?"

2. Why does Dee include the house in every picture she takes with her camera if she dislikes the house?

3. Describe the Johnson family home.

4. What does the way Dee dresses for her visit with her family indicate about her character?

5. Describe John Thomas and his role in the story.

6. Why doesn't Ms. Johnson have more formal education?

7. Alice Walker never names the narrator of this story. The reader is told only that she is a member of the Johnson family. What might the author of "Everyday Use" have intended to convey about the character of Ms. Johnson by not naming her?

8. Is there any significance to the fact that neither Ms. Johnson's marital state nor Dee's are revealed in "Everyday Use?"

9. Why does Ms. Johnson's clean her yard prior to Dee's visit at the beginning of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use?"

10. What is the significance of the sunglasses Dee wears at the end of the story and the fact that they hide most of her face?

(see the answer keys)

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