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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. What gesture does Isis make that serves to "heap kindling on" her grandmother's "already burning ire" (75)?

2. Who orders Isis to get down from the gate post and rake the yard?

3. Of what cause did Beau officially die, though it is implied that the local conjure man had a hand in it?

4. The overwrought expression of which emotion causes Bentley's death, according to the narrator?

5. The opening and closing frames of the story "Magnolia Flower" consist of conversations between which two bodies of water?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the way in which the definition of courage is called into question within the story "Spunk."

2. Discuss an instance in the collection when Hurston emphasizes the way in which white people exoticize black people.

3. Who is Beau Diddely?

4. Describe the ten-year-old protagonist of the story "John Redding Goes to Sea," as he is introduced at the beginning of the story.

5. What does the young disabled man featured in "A Bit of Harlem" say his teacher had told him about heaven? Why is this comment significant?

6. In what way is the theme of family bonds depicted in the story entitled "John Redding Goes to Sea"?

7. With which literary movement is Zora Neale Hurston most closely associated and why?

8. In what way does Hurston depict the difference between the two generations depicted in "Magnolia Flower"?

9. What does Spunk's Stetson hat represent within the story entitled "Spunk"?

10. Discuss the purpose behind Hurston's use of a frame structure to present the story entitled "Magnolia Flower."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the theme of courage within Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick. What is Hurston’s message regarding courage and how do you know?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Hurston's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different locations in a particular way within the text of Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining how the text portrays the American Dream. Is there one American Dream or are there many different ones, according to Hurston? What is the text saying about the American dream in the early twentieth century?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,363 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample