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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the students as they enter the chapel?
(a) They enter the chapel joyfully.
(b) They enter with the love a captured people has for their conquerors.
(c) They enter the chapel with resentment and fear.
(d) They enter with dread and hesitation.

2. What does the cord in chapter 11 symbolize?
(a) separation
(b) isolation
(c) loss
(d) rebirth

3. Bledsoe tells the narrator that he should not worry about
(a) being punished
(b) being kicked out of school
(c) pride and dignity
(d) acting like a fool

4. How does the narrator regard Mr. Bledsoe?
(a) As a protector
(b) As an unpredictable element
(c) As an enemy
(d) As a role model.

5. What does Trueblood's story suggest about the white men at the jail house?
(a) They didn't believe his story.
(b) They were angry and kept him in town as an example of how not to behave.
(c) They were horrified by his story and tried to get him to move.
(d) They secretly enjoyed hearing his story.

6. How does the narrator get past the drunken vet in the road?
(a) He claims to be someone of importance.
(b) He pays the vet a bribe.
(c) He pretends he is about to run over the vet.
(d) He tells him he has General Pershing in the car.

7. What kind of speeches has the narrator given from the stage in the chapel?
(a) Genuine speeches that expressed how he felt.
(b) Phony speeches with notes supplied by white men.
(c) Speeches that flattered the whites.
(d) Speeches that expressed his frustration in cultural symbolism.

8. Dr. Bledsoe is preoccupied with what?
(a) power
(b) preventing Mr. Norton from expelling the narrator
(c) getting even
(d) keeping his position

9. What truth does the vet tell to the narrator that the narrator does not yet understand?
(a) That he is invisible
(b) That he should not be afraid of white men
(c) That the white men are trying to destroy him
(d) That he is doomed to failure

10. How is the narrator's invisibility related to his residence?
(a) The white residents simply ignore him.
(b) He lives in a building for whites and uses their electricity because they cannot conceive of his presence.
(c) He is able to come and go without being noticed.
(d) The whites allow him to stay there because they consider him unimportant.

11. What does Dr. Bledsoe call the narrator?
(a) a traitor
(b) a slave
(c) an educated fool
(d) a liar

12. Why is the narrator initially concerned about finding work as soon as possible?
(a) He is concerned about being able to buy food.
(b) He hopes to save enough money for his fall tuition.
(c) He is afraid he will run out of money for rent.
(d) He does not want to appear broke if he has to ask for credit for his room rent.

13. What bit of advice from the young Mr. Emerson does the narrator actually heed?
(a) to forget about Mr. Bledsoe
(b) to call Liberty Paints and ask for a job
(c) to realize that he has no identity
(d) to return to the college

14. How is the paint symbolic?
(a) It symbolizes purity and correctness
(b) It symbolizes work and success
(c) It is white, reminding the narrator of the slogan, Keep America Pure with Liberty Paints.
(d) It symbolizes society's ability to cover evils

15. The narrator's pondering of his upcoming punishment is an example of what literary device?
(a) suspense
(b) symbolism
(c) allusion
(d) foreshadowing

Short Answer Questions

1. What makes the narrator homesick when he first gets to New York?

2. Ellison's primary struggle in writing the book was

3. Why is the narrator offended by the man behind the drugstore counter?

4. Why is Brockway hostile toward the narrator?

5. What do some of the black men carry?

(see the answer keys)

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