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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. What is Trueblood's explanation of the rape of his daughter?

2. What was the topic of the narrator's graduation day speech?

3. What does the narrator credit for his "call to action"?

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

5. Where does Bledsoe tell the narrator to go?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What does the veteran at the Golden Day understand that the narrator does not?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare/contrast the leaders of the Brotherhood with Dr. Bledsoe and Mr. Norton. How does each group accomplish or fail to accomplish their ultimate goals?

Essay Topic 2

Write an analysis of the various locations in which the narrator lives, i.e, the college, Harlem, in his new apartment, and finally in the "hole." Discuss how each location is a reflection of his changing attitude/character.

Essay Topic 3

Someone has said that heresy is simply truth carried to an extreme. Explain, therefore, how either diversity or unity could be carried to an extreme, misused, and thus become heretical.

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