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

2. Why do the Johnsons have dining benches instead of dining chairs?
(a) They don't like chairs.
(b) Ms. Johnson finds chairs uncomfortable to sit on.
(c) They can't afford chairs.
(d) Dee's father doesn't know how to make chairs.

3. What does Wangero tell Maggie to do at the end of the story?
(a) Try to make something of herself.
(b) Buy more stylish clothing.
(c) Get married.
(d) Give up the hand-stitched quilts.

4. Who stands under a gum tree and observes from a safe distance while tragedy strikes the old Johnson house a decade earlier?
(a) Dee.
(b) John Thomas.
(c) Maggie.
(d) Ms. Johnson.

5. What does Wangero find in her mother's trunk?
(a) Embroidered pillow cases.
(b) Old family photos.
(c) Her old baby clothes.
(d) Two quilts pieced by Grandma Dee.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the first male character to appear onstage in "Everyday Use?"

2. What color is Ms. Johnson's butter churn dasher?

3. What kind of soil comprises Ms. Johnson's yard?

4. What unpleasant truth does Ms. Johnson say Maggie realizes about herself?

5. Once Maggie weds, what is Ms. Johnson free to sit in her yard and do?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Although the exact setting of "Everyday Use" is never specified, what clues in the text indicate where the story takes place?

4. How do African Americans change from the days of Ms. Johnson's youth in the 1920s to the era of the 1960s in which the story "Everyday People" is set?

5. Why doesn't Dee think Maggie deserves their mother's two hand-stitched quilts?

6. Why doesn't Dee like the house in which her family lives?

7. What does Maggie's smile at the end of "Everyday Use" indicate?

8. What information is revealed about Grandma Dee in "Everyday Use" even though she never appears onstage?

9. What does Hakim-a-barber's car indicate about his character and Dee's?

10. Describe the Johnson family home.

(see the answer keys)

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