View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Hager not want Sandy to work at a hotel?

2. Sandy goes to work during the winter and overhears many stories and meets many people, learning to do what?

3. His journey to Chicago had excited him. How did Sandy feel about Chicago when he arrived?

4. Afterwards, Sandy and Annjee do what?

5. What is the first thing Tempy gives Sandy?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Sandy's hotel job, as mentioned in "Hey, Boy!" bad?

2. In "Children's Day," how does inequality even affect African American children?

3. What was the worst incident Sandy had to deal with at the hotel?

4. What does Sandy get from working in a barber shop?

5. Describe Hager's funeral.

6. What does Hager have to say about the soul and the world?

7. What did Tempy and Arkins think of their low-class backgrounds? Should they feel this way? Why or why not?

8. How did Tempy change her life?

9. Of what does this first chapter largely consist?

10. What has happened to Hager in "Note to Harriett?" Why might the title be named after the note sent to Harriett?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many characters in this book suffer.

Part 1) Describe the suffering that takes place in this book. Why does it take place? How do the different characters deal with this suffering? What does this reveal about them? How are the characters affected by it? How does this suffering affect the plot of the story?

Part 2) Does such suffering exist today? If so, where and why? If not, why not? Describe a time when you have suffered. How did it affect you?

Part 3) How can suffering be beneficial? How do the characters in this story benefit from suffering? How has your own life benefited from suffering?

Essay Topic 2

Most of the characters in this story are women.

Part 1) Why might the author have made most of the characters women? What generalization can you make about these women? What generalization can you make about the men in the story? How do the women compare to the men? What does this reveal about the culture of the time and the author?

Part 2) What might this story have been like if most of the characters were men? Would it be different? Why or why not? Why has the author put an importance and an emphasis on women, especially considering the author is a man?

Part 3) Compare these women to the women in your own life. How are they similar? How are they different? What might account for these similarities and differences? Although most of the characters are women, can men relate to these characters? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Sandy, by the end of the book, decides to focus on his education.

Part 1) Describe Sandy's education throughout the book. At what points does he become excited about learning? Why does he become excited about learning? How does this excitement affect him?

Part 2) How might this decision affect Sandy for the rest of his life? How important is it that Harriett supports this decision? Explain. How does this decision reflect Sandy's upbringing in Tempy and Aunt Hager's care?

Part 3) Do you believe that education is important in your own life? Why or why not? What do you believe is important in your own life? Why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,151 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample