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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Bigger compare his family to Mary Dalton?
(a) He sees his family as afraid as compared to Mary's confidence.
(b) He sees his family as a burden compared to new possibilites created by Mary's death.
(c) He sees his family as alive compared to Mary being dead.
(d) He sees his family's poor existence compared to Mary's rich life.

2. What does Bigger do with the pamphlets Jan gave him the night before?
(a) He sits on the bed and reads them.
(b) He burns them.
(c) He throws them in the trash.
(d) He goes to his room in the Dalton house and carefully puts them in his drawer.

3. While hidden Bigger reads a newspaper about the search for him. Why do the authorities still think Jan Erlone is the mastermind behind the entire murder and ransom?
(a) Because Mr. Dalton really liked Bigger and wanted to help him.
(b) Because Jan Erlone refused to be released and has signed a confession.
(c) Because Jan Erlone is a communist and they hate communists.
(d) Because coming up with such a detailed plan would be beyond the Negro mind.

4. What does Bigger begin to wish for all blacks?
(a) That someone will bring them together to make their lives better.
(b) That they will become superior to the whites and treat them like they have been treated.
(c) That one day blacks will one day be equal to whites.
(d) That they will one day make their own laws and rules.

5. What happens when Bigger first awakens the morning after the murder?
(a) He remembers everything he did the night before.
(b) He tries to sneak out of the house unnoticed.
(c) He doesn't think about what happened the night before.
(d) He sees his brother, Buddy, staring at him suspiciously.

6. What happens when Bigger climbs another ledge on the rooftop and beings crawling away?
(a) He buries himself in snow so they don't see him.
(b) He hides behind a chimney.
(c) He gets away.
(d) He is spotted.

7. Bigger finally shakes down the ashes, but he doesn't remove them from the furnace, he just adds more coal. What happens then?
(a) The fire starts to get hot again.
(b) The fire is smothered and the basement fills with smoke.
(c) The room fill with smoke so Bigger has to get a fan to blow it out the basement window.
(d) The fire goes out and Bigger must restart it.

8. What happens when Bigger arrives at Bessie's apartment and he tries to kiss her?
(a) She argues with him about not being home when she tried to visit him the night before.
(b) She tells him if he doesn't marry her it means he is ashamed of her.
(c) She isn't interested because he ignored her at the diner.
(d) She tells him that since he now has a job he can marry her.

9. The South Side Real Estate Company is what to Bigger?
(a) The company to whom he pays rent for his family's rat-infested room.
(b) The company Bigger dreams of one day owning.
(c) The company where Bigger hopes to one day work.
(d) The South Side Real Estate Company is nothing to Bigger.

10. Why does Bessie finally agree to help Bigger with his kidnapping scam?
(a) He threatens to murder her family.
(b) He says he will leave her if she doesn't help him.
(c) She is greedy and wants in on the deal.
(d) He says he will give her half the money.

11. After Bigger leaves Bessie and returns to the Dalton's house what does Peggy tell him to do and why?
(a) Go the the train station and pick up Mary's trunk because no one claimed it.
(b) She tells him to take the day off because everyone is too worried about Mary to need his services that day.
(c) Go to the train station and find out what has happened to Mary's trunk.
(d) To take the trunk to the attic because the Dalton's will start worrying about Mary if they see it.

12. What are Bigger's plans for the kidnapping farce?
(a) Put $100,000 in a hat box that he will retrieve.
(b) But $100,000 in a shoe box that will be dropped and Bessie will retrieve.
(c) Have $10,000 put in a shoe box that will be dropped and Bessie will retrieve.
(d) Put $1,000 in a hat box that Bessie will retrieve.

13. In what ways does Bigger act to give the impression he thinks Mary is asleep upstairs in her bedroom?
(a) He loads her trunk, waits by the car, rings the bell, then asks Peggy what he should do since Mary has not come down.
(b) He eats breakfast with the Daltons as though nothing unusual has happened.
(c) He asks Mrs. Dalton what time Mary's train is supposed to leave, because he doesn't want them to be late.
(d) He eats his breakfast then asks Peggy to go upstairs and find out what is taking Mary so long.

14. In Book Two as Bigger rides the streetcar, what is his only regret?
(a) That he ever got mixed up with the Dalton's in the first place.
(b) That he hadn't planned the murder so he could have gotten more money and felt more successful.
(c) That Mary's body didn't fit in the furnace. He hated all the blood when he cut off her head.
(d) That he had to work.

15. What keeps stopping Bigger from shaking down the ashes in the furnace?
(a) He wants to make sure Mary's body is completely burned.
(b) He doesn't know the ashes need to be removed.
(c) He is afraid of burning himself.
(d) Fear and dread

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bigger finally do after wandering the streets looking for food and shelter?

2. Where does Bigger place the ransom note to be certain Mr. Dalton gets it?

3. How much money does Bigger show Bessie to try to impress her?

4. What is Bigger's only regret about what he did to Bessie?

5. How do the police finally catch Bigger?

(see the answer keys)

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