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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens when the first police officer comes through the trap door to the rooftop?
(a) Bigger shootes him.
(b) Bigger knocks him unconscious.
(c) Bigger throws snowballs at him.
(d) Bigger runs away.

2. What did Buddy tell Bigger happened the night before?
(a) That their mother was happy he got the job.
(b) That Bigger's girlfriend, Bessie, came to see him and that she was angry he wasn't there.
(c) That Bigger's girlfriend, Bessie, came to see him the night before and talked about marriage.
(d) That he would keep quiet for a price.

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

4. How do the police finally catch Bigger?
(a) They use a water hose to soak him.
(b) They don't, he gets away one more time.
(c) They shoot him in the leg.
(d) An officer wrestles with him and wins.

5. 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 isn't interested because he ignored her at the diner.
(c) She tells him that since he now has a job he can marry her.
(d) She tells him if he doesn't marry her it means he is ashamed of her.

6. Where does Bigger make his last stand?
(a) A fire escape
(b) He climbs into an apartment window
(c) He climbs a water tower
(d) A roof top

7. When Bigger nearly falls off the ledge, how does the writer describe what he would fall into if he had fallen?
(a) "An ocean of cheers from the spectators below."
(b) "An ocean of boiling hate."
(c) "A boiling pot of hatred."
(d) "The waiting arms of the police."

8. What does Bigger finally do after wandering the streets looking for food and shelter?
(a) He hides with a group of homeless people living near the river.
(b) He buys a loaf of bread then finds an empty apartment to break into.
(c) He steals a loaf of bread then hides in an alley to eat it.
(d) He steals a loaf of bread then finds an empty apartment to break into.

9. How much money does Bigger show Bessie to try to impress her?
(a) $225
(b) $100
(c) $175
(d) $125

10. How does Mrs. Dalton look when she comes to Bigger's room to question him about Mary's disappearance?
(a) She's dressed in white and she looks suspicious.
(b) She's wearing a white pants suit and has her white hair tied back in a bun.
(c) She's wearing black because she knows Mary is dead.
(d) She's dressed in white and she is very pale.

11. What happens when Britten backs Bigger against the wall and grabs his collar asking him about the pamphlets Jan Erlone gave him?
(a) Bigger stares coldly into the eyes of Britten until the man releases him.
(b) Mr. Dalton tells Britten, Bigger probably knows nothing about them and doesn't even know Jan Erlone.
(c) Bigger wants to hit the private investigator, but controls the urge.
(d) Mr. Dalton tells Britten that Bigger probably wouldn't even understand the brochures.

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

13. What happens when one of the men discovers bone and an earring in the ashes?
(a) Bigger slips away from the men then jumps out of a second story window into the snow.
(b) He jumps out a window and hurts his knee, so he has to walk slowly to Bessie's apartment.
(c) He jumps out of a second story windown into the snow then runs to Bessie's apartment.
(d) Bigger sneaks out of the basement door and runs to Bessie's apartment.

14. What does Bigger give his friends when he sees them the morning after Mary's murder?
(a) A cigarette and a roll of dollars
(b) Money and cigars
(c) Candy and gum
(d) A dollar and a pack of cigarettes

15. 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 room fill with smoke so Bigger has to get a fan to blow it out the basement window.
(b) The fire is smothered and the basement fills with smoke.
(c) The fire starts to get hot again.
(d) The fire goes out and Bigger must restart it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Jan Erlone think when he hears Bigger's lie about him?

2. In book two when Bigger finally falls asleep after hearing Peggy and Mrs. Dalton talking about Mary, what does he recall in his dream?

3. How many people are searching for Bigger?

4. When Peggy finds Mary is not in her room what does she question Bigger about it, and what does he tell her?

5. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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