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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 the first image of the sex workers, what is being emphasized?
(a) The motion of their bodies.
(b) Their determination.
(c) Their reaction to the cold.
(d) The burden of social expectations.

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

3. Which two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?
(a) The second and fourth.
(b) The fifth and sixth.
(c) The first and third.
(d) The first and sixth.

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

5. What does the expression "feet of clay" in line 15 refer to?
(a) A hidden character flaw.
(b) Stubbornness and selfishness.
(c) Cowardice and fear.
(d) A delicate, easily-fractured nature.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. What ideas are associated with the snow in this poem?

4. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe the form of this poem.

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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