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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 does the narrator spontaneously decide to buy?

2. How does the narrator get out of playing along in Sybil's rape fantasy?

3. What fault does Emma find with the narrator?

4. How does the Brotherhood regard the dolls Clifton had been selling?

5. For whom does the Brotherhood claim to work?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. The narrator says that he has learned that the lack of surprise is a warning. What does he mean?

3. Why is Ras' anger ironic?

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

5. What is meant by "white fever"?

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

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

8. Why is the narrator's funeral oration more moving than if he had planned a speech based according to party guidelines?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the narrator mean when he talks about "existing outside of history"? Where does he envision himself by the end of the story? Since he never tells us his name, has he ultimately clarified or further obscured his self-discovery and identity?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the symbolism of the following items: the figurine bank, the dark glasses, the briefcase, the dancing dolls, the piece of chain.

Essay Topic 3

In his last meeting with Hambro, the narrator is told that his own members--the blacks in Harlem--must be sacrificed for the good of the Brotherhood and that they will be making temporary alliances with other groups. Since the alliance with the blacks seems to have accomplished nothing for the blacks themselves, what was the purpose of the work in Harlem? Why did it fail? How did the alliance--if such it could be called--contribute to the riot?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,065 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample