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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 Malcolm put together once he is in Boston?

2. Who does Malcolm blame for Laura's demise?

3. What does Malcolm have to do for the madam?

4. In what sport does Malcolm excel at school?

5. What does Malcolm start selling in this chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think Malcolm is so shocked at the Nation's action against him?

2. What is the main thing Malcolm says he gets out of dating a white woman?

3. In what way are Malcolm's problems getting worse in Chapter 8?

4. What does Alex Haley write in this chapter,written after Malcolm's death?

5. How does Malcolm react to the idea he could be assassinated?

6. In what way is Malcolm disillusioned with life in Chapter 8?

7. How are Malcolm and his gang able to get into the houses to rob them?

8. What doe Malcolm learn about whites in Chapter 17?

9. How do the whites react to Malcolm having a relationship with a white woman?

10. In what way did Malcolm's prison education mold his later ideas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the Nation of Islam in the Sixties. What were people's views on the Nation of Islam? Was there any Nation of Islam literature?How was Nation of Islam presented in popular culture? Has this representation affected the way people think about the Nation of Islam today?

Essay Topic 2

Look at the structure of the novel.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?

2) Examine the way both Malcolm and Alex Haley use the other people in the story to express Malcolm's ideas.

Essay Topic 3

What is Islam? How are its teachings different from Christianity? Why did Malcolm identify so much with Islam? Why do the teachings of Islam and the teachings of Christianity seem to clash? Is it just to do with religion?

(see the answer keys)

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