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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. Blood and Runt leave Milwaukee and go where to begin their new lives?

2. After beating Runt with a wire, how does Blood respond to his own reaction?

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

4. In later life, Bobby is told that being a pimp demands a certain personality trait. What is it?

5. Where does Bobby meet Pepper?

Short Essay Questions

1. Diamond Tooth Jimmy and Party Time (Chapter 2), Weeping Shorty (Chapter 3), Poison, Sweet Jones, Glass Top and Pretty Preston are all street names for pimps and other characters of the underworld that Blood inhabits. What are some other professions that prefer or require nicknames for their operatives and why?

2. Blood gets up on his second day in Chicago and immediately gets high before going out for the night in Chapter 7. How does this sequence of events foreshadow a potential for backfire in Blood's plan to befriend Glass Top to get to Sweet Jones?

3. Besides giving him his first street name, how does Weeping Shorty influence Blood's career as a pimp?

4. How does the IQ test Blood receives from his parole officer change his life in Chapter 3?

5. What is one of Slim's secrets to success for pimping in Chicago?

6. 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?

7. Describe the con that Party Time and Bobby work on white men.

8. In Chapter 4, what might be described as the final exam for graduation to full pimp status for Blood?

9. How does Party Time protect Bobby in Chapter 2, and why?

10. How does the Chapter 9 title "Butterfly" refer to Chris?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The following statement appears at the very beginning of the book "Pimp: The Story of My Life": "This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." How does this statement affect the value of the story in your estimation?

Essay Topic 2

Prostitution is described as an almost wholly negative experience in the book "Pimp: The Story of My Life." Certainly those that worked for Slim didn't enjoy life all that often. However, there are many prostitutes (and non-prostitutes) who defend their line of work and demand decriminalization of the sex-trade (particularly to give them the legal status to avoid falling victim to their own pimps). Research the various arguments for and against legalizing prostitution and develop your own arguments for or against it.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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