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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 is Lone DuPres's occupation?

2. How does Patricia feel about the views she believes Richard is teaching to the young people?

3. Why are some of the older residents of Ruby unhappy with Richard Misner?

4. What was a young man doing when he caught Connie's attention for the first time?

5. Patricia's father Roger often has ideas for new what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What sort of prejudice does Patricia witness in Ruby?

2. What is Richard Misner angry about?

3. What are some possible reasons for Connie spending so much time in the basement?

4. How has Patricia's genealogy project turned into a way for her to express her negative view of the people of Ruby?

5. What were the circumstances surrounding Ruby Best's death?

6. Though she was welcomed back home by her father, why did Pallas return to the Convent?

7. What do some of the people that try to stop the massacre seem more concerned about than the welfare of the women of the Convent?

8. Why do many parents of the town instruct their children to stay away from Billie Delia, and is this reputation deserved?

9. How do the women react to Lone's warning that men are coming to harm them?

10. What does Deek believe that the tea that Connie gave Soane causes, and why is this ironic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The racial situation in the United States during the time that "Paradise" was set was different from the situation today. Today we have the benefit of hindsight. Given what we know today, was creating their own towns the best alternative for black people given their limited options, or was it merely a form of self-imposed segregation?

Essay Topic 2

Could the major conflict in the novel have been resolved any other way, or was the final outcome inevitable?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Morrison's or the narrator's use of language in the novel "Paradise". Is the language elevated to the poetic or is it the everyday language of the rural people of Ruby?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 797 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample