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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. How does the audience react to the narrator's speech?

2. In Chapter 14, why is Mary cooking cabbage?

3. What time of day does Brother Jack meet the narrator in the beginning of Chapter 17

4. Why is the narrator unable to see his audience when he gives his speech at the arena?

5. How does the narrator plan to overcome the white men of the Brotherhood?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the irony of the figurine owned by Mary.

2. What puzzling irony does the narrator tell us about the human race?

3. Why do Dupre and his men choose a particular building to burn?

4. What does Brother Jack really want the narrator to avoid doing?

5. Describe one of the roles played by Rinehart.

6. Explain why the "woman question" is typical of the Brotherhood's approach to issues.

7. What epiphany has the narrator experienced regarding his race?

8. What is the primary problem with the instructions given to the narrator to gather more members?

9. Brother Jack refers to Clifton as Brutus? How does the metaphor fit the situation?

10. What is the significance of the black thread that controls the dancing doll?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On several different occasions, the narrator speaks directly to the reader, ending in his epilogue with "perhaps I speak for you...." Who do you think Ellison imagined as his most likely audience? If the various groups of people in the book could be allegorical representations of cultural groups--i.e. college administrators, blue collar employers, political party leaders, low income minority groups, etc.--what message would they perceive in the novel? Choose two or three different groups and tell how the story might speak to each of them.

Essay Topic 2

Being invisible can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. By the end of the novel, how does the narrator intend to use his invisibility? Is the state of being invisible to the inner eye of other people something that can be changed? If so, how? If not, why not?

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)

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