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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. Who picks up Candy and puts her in his car?

2. Why does Candy slap Lou in the car?

3. Why did Beau come after Charlie?

4. Why do the old men call Mapes into the house?

5. What does Luke Will say to Mapes about Charlie?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the shoot-out began, how did the old black men get organized and decide what to do?

2. How many days did the trial last?

3. How were the old men getting a bathroom break?

4. What did Miss Merle do to show her disgust at the crowd of old black men?

5. What was the "nigger room" a symbol of?

6. Who came in from the kitchen and what was he doing there?

7. Why did Mapes call Charlie "Mr. Biggs?"

8. How was Gil welcomed by the people gathered at his father's house?

9. What did Mapes mean when he told Luke Will that Charlie was now in charge?

10. How does Charlie prove he is a man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why was Charlie's story of bravery so important to all the black men?

Essay Topic 2

Light-skinned blacks vs. dark-skinned blacks. Explain what is happening in this story between the people who are light-skinned and the people who are dark-skinned. How did these prejudices begin?

Essay Topic 3

Compare Miss Merle and Charlie. How do they represent the past, present and future? What would they like their world's to look like? What will change in Miss Merle's world after the events of the story? How will the friends of Charlie's be changed by his death?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 533 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample