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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Joe pray sends him a sign as he sits in the bushes?
(a) Violet.
(b) His mother.
(c) His sister.
(d) Dorcas.

2. What does Joe take with him to the park?
(a) His sample case of cosmetics.
(b) A picture of Dorcas.
(c) His walking cane.
(d) A sandwich and his gun.

3. Why doesn't a fire truck intervene during the house fire in Dorcas's home?
(a) It is out of gas.
(b) It is waiting for a fire in a white neighborhood.
(c) It is broken down.
(d) All the firemen are on strike.

4. What does Violet see in Dorcas's picture?
(a) A friendly, mature girl.
(b) A stubborn girl needing a haircut.
(c) An angry, disturbed teenager.
(d) A sweet, beautiful woman.

5. What does Violet find in the bottom of the parrot's cage?
(a) A shoe.
(b) A pen.
(c) A knife.
(d) A necklace.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does the best hunter choose to be his apprentices?

2. What happens to Violet's mother after her father leaves the family?

3. What does the train conductor announce when he walks through the cabin where Joe and Violet are standing?

4. What year does Joe and Violet move to the city?

5. How does Alice describe Dorcas?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the relationship between Alice Manfred and Dorcas.

2. In what ways does Alice try to protect Dorcas?

3. Describe Joe's recollection of the train ride to Maryland in Chapter Two.

4. Why do Joe and Violet fall into such deep debt in Chapter Five?

5. How does the narrator describe the scene in which Violet attacks Dorcas's body?

6. Describe how Dorcas's mother dies.

7. In Chapter Five, how does the author describe Harlem in the springtime?

8. In Chapter Two, recount the surprise that Malvonne finds behind her refrigerator and her response to it.

9. In Chapter Two, what reason does the narrator give for Joe killing Dorcas?

10. In Chapter Four, how does Violet imagine Joe's relationship with Dorcas?

(see the answer keys)

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