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

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) Elaborate shoes with high heels.
(d) Light shoes meant to be worn indoors.

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

4. Whose presence is implied in "To bend and barter at desire's call" (line 4)?
(a) Bystanders.
(b) Pimps.
(c) Clients.
(d) Police officers.

5. In line 1, "footsteps of a lass" is an example of which technique?
(a) Synesthesia.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Alliteration.
(d) Sibilance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What color does the speaker assign to the sex workers' feet?

2. What is being referred to with the expression "silver break" (line 7)?

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. Describe the form of this poem.

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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