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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator tell Mr. Emerson that he wants to do with his future?
(a) become a teacher
(b) remain quietly in New York
(c) get a high paying position in the city
(d) become Mr. Bledsoe's assistant

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When the narrator goes to see Mr. Emerson, who does he actually see?

2. What is most unusual about the narrator's residence?

3. What does the narrator recall having been given instead of a cigarette?

4. What does the narrator fear is the reason for his inability to get an appointment with the trustees?

5. Why does Mr. Bledsoe compose his face into a bland mask?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was the narrator doomed to fail at the paint factory?

2. What does Ellison mean by "benign neglect"?

3. Why does Mr. Norton give Jim Trueblood $100?

4. How has the narrator ended up in the factory hospital? How is he being treated once he gets there?

5. Describe Dr. Bledsoe.

6. Of what "irresponsibility" are sleepwalkers and dreamers accused?

7. Who are the sleeping ones?

8. What does Ellison mean when he says that for African Americans, all wars are "wars within wars."

9. In what way, according to the veteran, is the narrator likely to become a casualty?

10. Why is Harlem a particularly appropriate setting for the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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