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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. Why doesn't Blood flinch when the gunshot nearly hits him?

2. After leaving Leavenworth, Slim returns to Chicago. What is his first plan?

3. What does Mama ask for on her deathbed?

4. How much is Slim's bond when he is picked up by the police while on the run from the FBI?

5. When Slim is arrested in Montana, what is the charge?

Short Essay Questions

1. While out on bail in Chapter 16, how does Slim show his true colors as a friend to Sweet Jones and why?

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

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

4. How does the relationship between Chris and Slim evolve during the 1940's in Chapter 14?

5. What prompts Runt to work harder after her return in Chapter 12?

6. Why is image, represented by material things, so important to a pimp?

7. 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?

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 his mother's death in Chapter 22 affect Slim's life?

10. Slim finally feels like he is totally alone when he is released from Leavenworth in Chapter 16 and discovers Chris has married and had a baby. Is his reaction to this information purely selfish or is it possible that he has himself contemplated marrying Chris and is jealous of her ability to establish love and stability for herself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oscar, the inmate Bobby meets in State Reformatory School, is institutionalized after spending too much time in solitary confinement. After Slim (or Bobby, as he was then) witnesses Oscar's decline into madness and suicide, he internalizes this lesson and remembers it during his own stretch in solitary later on. It is integral to his desire to comply with the warden's demands to know the details of his escape. Solitary confinement is still utilized in certain circumstances in the American prison system (and many other prison systems around the world). The UN categorizes some uses of solitary confinement as torture or inhumane treatment. Why are humans so heavily impacted psychologically by solitary confinement? How can the experience of solitary confinement change depending upon the personality of the person incarcerated? In Slim's case, months in solitary confinement ultimately give the warden what he wants. Is solitary confinement an acceptable method for getting truth (or other desired behaviors) from someone? Is solitary confinement a necessary evil of the prison system or an inhumane exercise in cruelty against people who have no way of defending themselves?

Essay Topic 2

Opinion: Like many of the Harlem Renaissance writers of youth, Iceberg Slim resorts to street vernacular and slang not just for the character dialogue in his book, but for his own first person account. In your opinion what contribution does this make to the book? Does it emphasize the gritty reality of the book? Does it make Slim just sound illiterate? Does it make the book easy or difficult to read? Does it contribute to the atmosphere of the book? Does it seem necessary?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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