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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Ellison himself was a member of which branch of the military?

2. What does the narrator notice about the whites in the city?

3. Why does Mary Rambo want to take the narrator home?

4. In chapter 9, the narrator walks a short distance with another man. What is the man doing besides singing?

5. According to Ellison, for what have African Americans historically had to fight?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator say he is invisible?

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

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

4. Describe Dr. Bledsoe.

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

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

7. What does Mary Rambo want the narrator to do?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the women in the novel: Mary, Emma, Sybil, the nuns, and the white woman at the rally. What role do the women play in the narrator's development?

Essay Topic 2

The Brotherhood is concerned about its own purposes and really has no interest in the issues of eviction of black people from their homes or in other racial issues in Harlem. Write an essay about the Brotherhood in which you locate and explain hints that they are using the narrator merely as a tool for their own purpose. What is their purpose? Why does the narrator fail to recognize it until too late to prevent a riot?

Essay Topic 3

Music or singing occur several times in the novel and the narrator himself refers to Armstrong. Explain how music contributes to the overall plot of the novel. Consider not only the narrator's private thoughts about music, but also the music in the chapel in Chapter 2, the music at the Brotherhood party, the man singing at Clifton's funeral, and others.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 812 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample