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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 year is it when Slim is released from Leavenworth?

2. What is Mavis's job?

3. Why is Slim in desperate need of cash after he is released from Leavenworth?

4. What kind of car does Slim buy?

5. In 1953 Slim receives a letter from Mama saying what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Slim has two near-murder experiences in Chapter 20. Who does he nearly kill, how and why doesn't he?

2. How does the Chapter 22 title "Dawn" reflect the evolution of Slim's life at this stage?

3. Why is Chris one of the few people who knows that Slim is addicted to cocaine in Chapter 13?

4. When Slim meets his biological father again in Chapter 14, what difference becomes clear between his father's treatment and his mother's treatment in Slim's decision to become a pimp?

5. What does the sewer in the chapter 15 title refer to?

6. Mavis is a female drug dealer and one of the few women in the story who is not a prostitute. How does Mavis being female make her an appropriate target for Slim's robbery attempt in Chapter 17?

7. Twice in Chapter 19, Slim turns to family for help. To whom does he go and for what?

8. Slim's story about the State Workforce seems a little light on truth in Chapter 18. What are some elements that seem perhaps questionable?

9. How does Slim's reliance on drugs catch up with him in the end of chapter 15?

10. What consequences to others does Slim fail to consider before or mention after his escape in Chapter 18?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In Beck's early years, doctors, lawyers, bankers were the only high class "Negro" society he was exposed to that looked as well or lived as well as he and his family (with Henry Upshaw). Yet apparently this did not make enough of an impression upon him to lead him to highly value education and he is thrown out of Tuskegee University for bad behavior. In the late 1920's what were the educational and professional opportunities generally available to black men, and how did this affect Beck?

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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