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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 Mr. Brockway, what happened when the company tried to replace him?
(a) All the paint went bad
(b) The union went to bat for him.
(c) The other workers went on strike
(d) No one else would take the job

2. What does Trueblood's story suggest about the white men at the jail house?
(a) They were horrified by his story and tried to get him to move.
(b) They secretly enjoyed hearing his story.
(c) They were angry and kept him in town as an example of how not to behave.
(d) They didn't believe his story.

3. What do some of the black men carry?
(a) pouches strapped to their wrists
(b) radios
(c) shackles
(d) brief cases

4. Why is Brockway hostile toward the narrator?
(a) He thinks the narrator is there to take his job.
(b) He has heard of the narrator's mistake.
(c) The narrator has difficulty following instructions.
(d) The narrator approaches him with a bad attitude.

5. When was the introduction of the novel written?
(a) Immediately after finishing the story.
(b) Sporadically during the writing of the story
(c) 30 years after the text itself
(d) Before the text of the story

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How did the narrator get invited to participate in the Battle Royal?

3. How does the narrator's grandfather regard his own meekness?

4. What does the man in Emerson's office imply after reading the letter given him by the narrator?

5. What does the narrator discuss with the woman in his dream?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What does Dr. Bledsoe mean by "acting the nigger."

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

6. Who are the sleeping ones?

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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