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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. Who is Blood told is the most successful pimp in the area (Chapter 5 setting)?

2. What does Sweet Jones agree to do for Blood during their first formal meeting?

3. What happens within hours of Runt and Blood's arrival in the Chapter 5 setting?

4. What does Blood buy Preston as a form of payment?

5. How does Blood's attitude towards white society change after his encounter with Melody?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Blood show his courage and psychological insight in his dealings with Sweet Jones in Chapter 6?

2. Why does Bobby/Slim say that from a pimp's perspective, looking back, Steve was an idiot and played the game with Mama all wrong?

3. Many characters come and go in the story without being given names, even if they play a reasonably memorable role for the author (like the banker with the big tip in Chapter 1). However, in Chapter 9, Silas plays a singularly minor role and yet is given a name and place in the story. What significance could be attributed to this?

4. Does it seem somewhat perverse that Blood whips Runt with a wire and then gets depressed when she leaves and doesn't come back by her usual time in Chapter 11? What does this say about the nature of an abusive relationship?

5. Why does Runt's failure to return after the wire beating prompt Blood to think about calling Mama in Chapter 11?

6. Like many of the chapters, the title of Chapter 6, "Drilling for Oil" may have multiple meanings. What are two possible interpretations of the "Oil" that Slim is drilling for?

7. In Chapter 4, in spite of his quick score with Runt, what is Blood constantly reminding himself and why?

8. In spite of having worked as a pimp for less than a full day in Chicago, Blood nevertheless provides Runt with a full set of "rules for whoring" in the neighborhood. Why does he do this and where would he have gotten these rules?

9. How does the incident with Melody provide a metaphor for Blood's relationship with and attitude towards the white world?

10. What is the essence of the "cop and blow" scheme in Chapter 10?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nature versus Nurture. Bobby Beck's choices as Macking Youngblood and Iceberg Slim can be described as a result of an unfortunate and violent childhood, bad environment and bad parenting/role modeling. Instead of following the example of Henry Upshaw, a man he loved and wanted to be like, Beck chose to follow the example of Steve and the pimps of the Chicago underworld. Is Beck's path in life inevitable given his resentment of women, his violent handling by his father and his available options as a black man in a white, segregated world? Identify key choice points for Beck at various points in his life and his perceived alternatives.

Essay Topic 2

Only eight of the prostitutes in Slim's life are given names, generally those with whom he has the longest or most pivotal relationship (No Thumbs Helen would be an exception to this). Otherwise, he goes through hundreds of girls and none of them are named and few are even relevant to the story. How is this a reflection on the real motivation behind a pimp? Is pimping really about women or sex or relationships?

Essay Topic 3

Tuskegee University has an opportunity to turn Bobby Beck into a Harlem Renaissance man, a black man full of creative power and prolific ability. Instead, they turn him out of the school after Bobby cannot be convinced to obey the rules. Is the University "cutting off its nose to spite its face" with this rejection of talent and genius? Should the school take on the responsibility of preventing an obviously troubled youth from becoming another crime statistic, particularly in an era when opportunities for black men were so few and far between and the need for powerful black intellectuals was so critical in the social equality movement? Conversely, is it the school's responsibility to babysit ungrateful children who cannot simply comply with reasonable standards for straight living and personal achievement?

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