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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. Why does the narrator try to hide the figurine from Mary?

2. What makes the narrator think that his night with the white woman was a trap?

3. What does the unnamed man at the party ask the narrator to do?

4. Why does the narrator remain in his hole for a long while?

5. Who is Rinehart?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the narrator's work on the "woman question" cut short?

2. Explain the initial results of the narrator's strategy of "yessing" them to death.

3. How do we know at this point that the lobotomy has not been completely successful in changing the narrator's personality?

4. How does the narrator really feel about the gift of the chain from Brother Tarp?

5. Identify several mistakes that the narrator makes in his first assigned speech in Harlem.

6. What is the narrator's intention in speaking up for the black couple who have been evicted?

7. How does Emma's conversation create a sense of foreboding?

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

9. Why is Ras' anger ironic?

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

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

Early in the novel, the narrator endures a non-surgical pre-frontal lobotomy that is supposed to erase his memories, make him a more pliable worker, and prevent him from bringing charges against the factory. He does change after the experience, but not exactly in the way usually expected of a lobotomy. Discuss the changes that begin taking place. What changes are permanent? What changes seem to occur gradually? Do they make the narrator a better man?

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