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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. How did the narrator get invited to participate in the Battle Royal?
(a) He happened to be at the hotel to give a speech to white men.
(b) He thought it was part of the award.
(c) The people who arranged the speech planned to include him.
(d) He volunteered because it looked interesting.

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

3. When the narrator goes to see Mr. Emerson, who does he actually see?
(a) Mr. Emerson's secretary
(b) Mr. Emerson's son
(c) Mr. Emerson's assistant
(d) an unnamed individual

4. What does the narrator recall having been given instead of a cigarette?
(a) a cigar
(b) a beating
(c) liquor
(d) marijuana

5. Where does the road in the college town ultimately lead?
(a) To a statue
(b) To a chapel
(c) To the college
(d) To a mental institution

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator get past the drunken vet in the road?

2. What does the narrator lack in Chapter 12?

3. What is the real purpose of the Reverend's speech?

4. When was the introduction of the novel written?

5. What does the moon symbolize?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why do the grandfather's dying words make the narrator feel guilty about receiving praise?

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

4. What literary device is used in Chapter 4?

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

6. Why is important to know that the introduction was written 30 years after the novel itself?

7. Why does the drug store have the pork chop and grits special?

8. To what kind of action has music called the narrator?

9. How was the narrator's graduation speech a betrayal of black people?

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

(see the answer keys)

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