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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. The image of the slave owners bidding for a naked girl is
(a) a vison induced by marijuana
(b) something the narrator recalls from his childhood
(c) something that happened to the narrator's father
(d) a picture the narrator had seen in a book

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

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

4. How does Mr. Norton explain the day's events?
(a) He says the trip was the narrator's idea.
(b) He claims the narrator took advantage of his (Norton's) illness
(c) He has no explanation.
(d) He says the narrator was not responsible.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What kind of speeches has the narrator given from the stage in the chapel?

3. What mistake does the narrator make at Liberty Paints?

4. What group of society is represented by the white men at the Battle Royal?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Dr. Bledsoe.

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

3. What lie does Dr. Bledsoe expect the narrator to tell?

4. Why do the people at the Men's House treat him with hostility?

5. What does the veteran at the Golden Day understand that the narrator does not?

6. What favor does the young Mr. Emerson do for the narrator?

7. How does the setting in chapter 5 provide additional foreshadowing?

8. What surprises the narrator upon his arrival in Harlem?

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

10. What does the narrator expect from his visit with Mr. Bates?

(see the answer keys)

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