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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. As Bigger tells his fabricated story about the previous evening to Mr. Dalton and Britten, what is he feeling?
(a) Afraid they won't believe him and that he'll be under suspicion.
(b) Like he is the one in control because he is telling them what he wants them to believe.
(c) So proud of his story he thinks of becoming a fiction writer.
(d) Worried they will find something in his story that doesn't ring true.

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

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

5. What goes through Bigger's mind when he hears the music from the church?
(a) He hates the music and can't wait to find another apartment.
(b) He half wishes he was a believer like his mother, but doesn't want to give up his sense of self.
(c) He hums along, but feeling to peace he gets angry.
(d) He wishes he could be with his mother.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens after Jan Erlone sees Bigger on the street and offers to help him, then invites him out for coffee to talk about the situation?

2. In what ways does Bigger act to give the impression he thinks Mary is asleep upstairs in her bedroom?

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

4. Why does Bigger seem bothered that the newspaper only just wrote about him after he killed Mary?

5. Why does Bessie finally agree to help Bigger with his kidnapping scam?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Bigger decide to try to blame Jan and the Communist Party for the kidnapping?

2. What did Bigger's brother, Buddy, have to say to him?

3. What is the one problem Bigger feels he has to do before he will be okay?

4. What was Bessie's reaction when Bigger arrived at her apartment the morning after the murder of Mary?

5. What kind of power did Bigger have over Bessie that she continued to obey his direction even though she knew it was wrong?

6. What was Bigger's fatal mistake in his plan to dispose of Mary's body?

7. What things made the Daltons begin to worry about their daughter being gone?

8. What deterred the Daltons from being excessively concerned when they found Mary wasn't in the house the morning after she was murdered?

9. The morning after Mary's killing, as Bigger rode the street car on his way back to the Dalton house, he spent a lot of time reflecting on the plight of black people. Explain what Bigger thought would be a solution to their fear and shame.

10. In Book two, what does Bigger do at the drug store?

(see the answer keys)

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