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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 True Belle sew to the hem of her dress?

2. Who tells Joe about Dorcas's last words?

3. What does the girl do to Lestory?

4. Why does Joe want to find Dorcas again?

5. How does the girl respond to the baby immediately after it is born?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe Acton?

2. Describe the birthing scene of the naked black girl in Chapter Seven.

3. Describe the relationship between True Belle and Golden Gray.

4. What does Vera Louise's mother do when she finds out Vera Louise is pregnant?

5. In Chapter 10, why do Joe and Violet often go to the roof? What do they do up there together?

6. In Chapter Eight, what does Dorcas notice about Joe?

7. What happens to the cotton plantation thirteen years after Golden Gray confronts his father?

8. In Chapter 10, why does Alice Manfred move back to Springfield? What do you think is the real reason she moves back to Springfield?

9. Who are the only people who do not know that Vera Louise has a son with a black man?

10. Why does Dorcas break up with Joe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The mothers of Violet, Joe, and Dorcas die tragically, abandon their children, or kill themselves. Why do you think Morrison includes this similarity between these three characters? What does the loss of one's mother symbolize? Do you think it effectively unites the characters, or does it pull them apart?

Essay Topic 2

Felice has a strong attachment to the ring Dorcas is buried wearing. What does the ring signify, and why is it so important to Felice? What greater concepts are initiated in the story about the ring?

Essay Topic 3

What impact do you think Alice Manfred has on Dorcas? Do you think Dorcas is the same sort of person id she is not being raised by Alice? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 614 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample