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

2. Why does the vet want the narrator to hear his story?
(a) So the narrator will persuade Mr. Norton to give a donation
(b) So the narrator will take up the cause of the vets
(c) So the narrator will return to the Golden Day
(d) So the narrator will not become another casualty

3. What group of society is represented by the white men at the Battle Royal?
(a) Middle upper class (supervisors, lawyers, bankers, etc)
(b) Leaders (governors, politicians)
(c) Educators (professors, scientists)
(d) Lower class (poor white men)

4. Ellison's original story was written about which of the following?
(a) A sharecropper
(b) An African American pilot
(c) An African American author
(d) A slave

5. What does the narrator lack in Chapter 12?
(a) his interest in returning to college
(b) motivation to keep going
(c) A sense of direction
(d) money to live on

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator tell Mr. Emerson that he wants to do with his future?

2. What does Trueblood's story suggest about the white men at the jail house?

3. What does Mr. Norton give to Trueblood?

4. What does the narrator see as he is watching people leave the chapel?

5. What does the doctor mean when he says they "picked poor robin clean"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What mistake does the veteran doctor predict the narrator will make?

2. What literary device is used in Chapter 4?

3. What final action does the hospital take to ensure the narrator's silence?

4. Who are the sleeping ones?

5. What is the objective of Rev. Barbee's sermon?

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

7. What does the narrator notice while waiting for his appointment with the trustees?

8. Why does the trip to the Trueblood house make the narrator feel uncomfortable?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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