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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. Where does Herald Loomis hang around?

2. Why doesn't Seth want to tell Loomis where Martha is?

3. What does Bertha want Seth to make her?

4. How long does Seth say Bynum has been at the rooming house?

5. Who offers help if Mattie or Molly need anything, now that they've moved into the rooming house?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jeremy and Mattie's relationship progress?

2. What state is Bynum in immediately after dinner and before the Juba?

3. Why does Jeremy not want to enter a guitar-playing contest?

4. What does Loomis ask about God?

5. Describe Bertha's attitude toward Herald Loomis.

6. What does Bynum say about to Mattie luck?

7. Describe what Bynum tells Jeremy about touching.

8. When Bynum presses Loomis, saying "then...what happened," what does Loomis tell about his vision?

9. What is Loomis' reaction to Seth's demand on him?

10. What is Molly's reaction to the death of Mattie's two babies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss religion in the play.

1) What is the significance of the washing in blood that appears both in Bynum's vision and in the end of the play? What religious significance does it have?

2) Compare the Christian religion of the characters to Bynum's spiritualism. What parallels do they have? How are they different? Where does each arise from?

3) Why does Loomis rail against religion? What significance is there to the fact that Martha followed her church away from Loomis?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the play, there are forces that bind people and forces that tear people apart. Discuss these forces.

1) What types of things bind people to each other and to places and lives in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? How do negative binding forces (like the chains of slavery) affect the other things that bind people together or to elements of their lives?

2) What types of things tear people apart in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? What role might tearing apart have in building identity?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the metaphor of traveling in the play.

1) In the play, freed blacks travel across the country and become separated from each other. What motivates this traveling? What does it show about these people and their experiences?

2) Characters in the play travel in search of people and things that they've lost. What are the characters searching for? Why is travel important in their search?

3) Roads play important roles in both Bynum and Loomis' visions. Explain the significance of roads and traveling in the characters' visions.

(see the answer keys)

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