View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What, ironically, makes the narrator's white bosses distrustful of him?
(a) his lack of experience
(b) his attitude
(c) his background and education
(d) his color

2. Ellison himself was a member of which branch of the military?
(a) navy
(b) Merchant Marines
(c) airforce
(d) army

3. What is the narrator afraid of losing?
(a) His scholarship
(b) His identity
(c) The respect Mr. Bledsoe has for him.
(d) His job.

4. In spite of losing his identity, what does the narrator retain?
(a) an urgency to find a job
(b) the memory of Mr. Norton
(c) a desire for revenge
(d) his naive outlook on life

5. What makes the narrator homesick when he first gets to New York?
(a) a Gideon Bible
(b) a message from Mr. Norton
(c) the letters he carries
(d) the sight of other black people

6. Where does the narrator find himself in chapter 11?
(a) a mental ward
(b) a prison
(c) the factory hospital
(d) a hospital

7. What procedure is performed on the narrator?
(a) castration
(b) a prefrontal lobotomy
(c) both castration and a lobotomy
(d) mind control implants

8. The narrator's need to give speeches is an example of what literary device?
(a) irony
(b) suspense
(c) foreshadowing
(d) audio imagery

9. According to Reverend Barbee, why does Dr. Bledsoe enjoy a position of apparent power?
(a) Dr. Bledsoe had performed favors for the Founder.
(b) The Founder told Reverend Barbee that Bledsoe deserved the position.
(c) The Founder, with his dying breath, asked Bledsoe to continue in his leadership
(d) The Founder and Bledsoe were related.

10. Where does Bledsoe tell the narrator to go?
(a) back to the Golden Day for the name of the doctor
(b) to Mr. Norton
(c) New York
(d) back to the dormatory

11. Where is the vet going?
(a) New York
(b) Washington DC
(c) Canada
(d) an undisclosed location

12. According to Ellison, for what have African Americans historically had to fight?
(a) The right for education
(b) The right for fair employment
(c) Their freedoms
(d) The right to fight

13. What is ironic about Trueblood's situation?
(a) Other men have done the same thing.
(b) The college wants him to stay around.
(c) The college wants him to leave.
(d) He receives charity from the whites.

14. According to the vet, what does a white woman symbolize?
(a) possessions
(b) sexuality
(c) freedom
(d) love

15. According to Ellison, which of the following is important for perseverance?
(a) determination
(b) laughter
(c) courage
(d) tolerance

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following represents the narrator's philosophy?

2. Where was the novel written?

3. What does Mr. Norton give to Trueblood?

4. Why does the narrator not tell the doctors his name after the procedure?

5. The main conflict of Ellison's original story revolves around

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 472 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample