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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. Who does Simple represent?

2. What do Langston and Zell Ingram, a friend from Cleveland, decide to do?

3. With what difficult position is Langston posed?

4. What has happened to Barcelona, right before Langston arrives?

5. What does his mother receive while they are there?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hughes' poetry get him into trouble?

2. What poetry does Hughes write during this summer?

3. What does Langston do upon returning to the United States?

4. Who is Jesse B. Simple?

5. What does Langston do after his first year at Lincoln?

6. What does Langston do with a four hundred dollar prize for "Not Without Laughter?"

7. What happens after Langston returns to New York City?

8. What does Langston do while in Carmel, California?

9. What does Langston do when he travels to New Orleans?

10. What does Langston do with the money he earns from the movie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hughes' work often gets him into trouble.

Part 1) Why does it get him into trouble?

Part 2) Would it get him into trouble today?

Part 3) Do writers and other artists today get themselves into trouble for the same issues Hughes got himself into trouble? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Hughes' father is interested in paying for him to go to college.

Part 1) What does his father want him to study? What does Langston want to study?

Part 2) Why does his father want him to go to college? How is this motive revealed in the book?

Part 3) How does his father's reason for sending Langston to college reinforce Langston's opinion of him?

Essay Topic 3

Hughes says he begins writing poetry because "he could not help himself."

Part 1) Why does he not have this attitude early on in life?

Part 2) What causes this change?

Part 3) How does this type of attitude lead him through his life?

(see the answer keys)

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