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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. Since getting off the drugs and moving to Seattle, how does Slim spend more of his time (rather than pimping)?

2. What allows Slim to release his resentment of women?

3. Who helps Slim in his escape from the State Workforce?

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

5. Where is Slim when Pearl Harbor is bombed?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does his mother's death in Chapter 22 affect Slim's life?

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

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

6. Slim manages to move past blunt physical trauma to a more elegant finesse when he realizes he's in danger of losing Rachel in Chapter 20. How does Slim employ his psychological genius once again to ensure Rachel's loyalty?

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

8. How has Leroy been spending his years when Slim runs across him again in prison?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In spite of the fact that Slim owns a gun, a reasonably normal accessory for a pimp, he never kills anyone (though he does shoot Serena and attempts to shoot Steve) and very few of his associates are murdered or die by violence. Sweet Jones shoots and kills an unnamed man, though he escapes jail. Slim is shot at in the Roost but is not hurt. Henry Upshaw, Glass Top, Pretty Preston and Mama all die of various (though not necessarily unavoidable) natural causes. None of Slim's prostitutes ever is reported to die (even though Slim himself attempts to kill Runt). Slim's world is filled with anger, violence, danger, beatings, drugs, sex, prison stints and yet Slim's story is almost unaffected by traumatic deaths. Does this seem likely? Is this relative "purity" a fictional polish the author has put in the story? What other reasons might there be for this?

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

In Chapter 1, Bobby Beck's father suggests to his mother that they should leave Bobby on the steps of the Catholic church since they cannot afford him. Given the childhood violence Beck is exposed to and life that Beck subsequently leads, would this perhaps have been a better alternative leading to a better life? Consider what the upbringing of a black boy in a 1920's Catholic orphanage would have been like, the damage (or lack of) Beck/Blood/Slim inflicted on those around him and the ultimate result of his decisions and life path.

(see the answer keys)

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