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

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

3. What does Dr. Bledsoe call the narrator?

4. According to Reverend Barbee, why does Dr. Bledsoe enjoy a position of apparent power?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Why was the narrator doomed to fail at the paint factory?

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

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

7. Why is Harlem a particularly appropriate setting for the novel?

8. Explain the irony of the sign "Keep American Pure with Liberty Paints."

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain why the Brotherhood chooses the narrator. What factors have made him particularly vulnerable to their approach? How do his own intentions change as he begins working with them?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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?

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