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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 8 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In lines 2 and 3, the expression "when the night lets fall/ Its veil" is an example of which technique?
(a) Simile.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Antithesis.
(d) Personification.

2. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?
(a) Thick-soled shoes that make them appear taller.
(b) Boots meant to protect them from snow and rain.
(c) Light shoes meant to be worn indoors.
(d) Elaborate shoes with high heels.

3. Which lines of each stanza are indented?
(a) The second and fourth.
(b) The first and third.
(c) The fifth and sixth.
(d) The first and sixth.

4. Which line most clearly echoes the tension between "little girls" (line 5) and "prowling" (line 6)?
(a) Line 9, "Through the lone night until the last snow-flake."
(b) Line 12, "Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street."
(c) Line 11, "The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet."
(d) Line 7, "Through the long night until the silver break."

5. What color does the speaker assign to the sex workers' feet?
(a) White.
(b) Silver.
(c) Gray.
(d) Black.

Short Answer Questions

1. In line 1, "footsteps of a lass" is an example of which technique?

2. What does the word "shod" in line 12 refer to?

3. Which techniques are evident in line 4, "To bend and barter at desire's call"?

4. Which two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?

5. In line 16, what word does the speaker use to describe the feet of his own race?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the poem conclude is the cause of the women's choice to pursue sex work?

2. Where is Harlem and why is it significant to the meaning of this poem?

3. Describe the form of this poem.

4. How does the second stanza set up a contrast between dark and light?

5. How does McKay convey the idea that these women are sex workers?

6. What indications does the speaker give that he feels the sex workers' choices indicate something about all Black people in America?

7. What is the poem's first image, and how does it set a tone for the rest of the poem?

8. How does the use of the word "prowling" contrast with the poem's previous descriptions of the women?

(see the answer keys)

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