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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. Chapter 8 is effectively "Day 3" in Blood's new life as a professional pimp with Runt as his working girl. After breakfast, how does Day 3 begin?

2. Where/How is Bobby's Mama working when he comes home from University?

3. While Blood is sitting in his parked car outside the Roost, Pretty Preston jumps in and tells Blood what he plans to do to Sweet Jones for revenge. What is it?

4. How does what happens to Oscar affect Bobby's later actions in prison?

5. After Pretty Preston's revenge attempt on Sweet Jones fails, what does Blood decide he wants from Sweet Jones?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does it speak to Blood's salesmanship that he is able to score Runt as his own working girl after such a short period of time?

2. Bobby accepts the invitation to attend Tuskegee University initially and only leaves when kicked out for bad behavior. How is Bobby's decision to attend college indicative of his frame of mind at this age?

3. Another good name for Chapter 2 might be "Down a Dark Alley." What are three ways in which this name would be appropriate?

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

5. 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?

6. Did Blood's "pep talk" (beating) at the end of Chapter 6 have an effect on Runt in Chapter 7?

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

8. Who are the first pimps and prostitutes in young Bobby's life and how is his encounter with them a generally positive experience?

9. At the end of Chapter 5, when Blood beats Runt for the first time, he begins to have flashbacks to his childhood and Mama. What insight do these flashbacks provide to Blood's life and personality?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and comment on the irony in the fact that when Slim is released from Leavenworth, he has lost everything and everyone in his life except Mama, the person who, in his mind, drove him into the life he now leads.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout his life, Slim maintains contact with Mama, even going to sit by her deathbed for six months and ultimately forgiving her. Trace the evolution of Slim and Mama's relationship and show how the changes in their relationship are reflected in the concurrent changes in Slim's life, attitude and choices.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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