View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does The Words to Say It document about the author?
(a) The author's therapy and healing.
(b) The author's literary criticism of literature.
(c) The author's feelings about Africanist literature.
(d) The author's relationship.

2. Which of the following best describes Marie Cardinal?
(a) White and privileged.
(b) Small and crass.
(c) Sensitive and young.
(d) Stressed and insane.

3. How many pages into The Words to Say It does "the thing" happen?
(a) 120.
(b) 80.
(c) 10.
(d) 40.

4. Who was criticized by a scholar who deemed the term "darky" acceptable?
(a) Sylvia Plath.
(b) John Steinbeck.
(c) Toni Morrison.
(d) Edgar Allen Poe.

5. Who is Sapphira jealous of?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her daughter.
(c) Her sister.
(d) Her slave.

6. What is "the Thing"?
(a) Cardinal's illness.
(b) Morrison's distaste for Africanist literature.
(c) Louis Armstrong concert.
(d) Classic literature.

7. When was a criticism written deeming the term "darky" acceptable?
(a) 1951.
(b) 1956.
(c) 1942.
(d) 1936.

8. What is Morrison skeptical about?
(a) The Words to Say It is an autobiography.
(b) The author of The Words to Say It is a real person.
(c) The Words to Say It is a work of fiction.
(d) The author of The Words to Say It was actually healed.

9. Who does Sapphira plot to rape her slave?
(a) Her husband.
(b) Her nephew.
(c) Her son.
(d) Her brother.

10. Which of the following elements of racism does Morrison say studies of racism focus on?
(a) Consequences of racism.
(b) Why literature is racist.
(c) People who have failed as a result of racism.
(d) Origin of racism.

11. Which of the following words does Morrison use to describe writers?
(a) Probing.
(b) Telling.
(c) Lustrious.
(d) Angry.

12. What does Morrison start a file to document?
(a) Instances of white people causing disturbances in Africanist literature.
(b) Instances of Africanist literature that do not acknowledge racial superiority.
(c) Instances of black people being impressed by white people.
(d) Instances of black people igniting moments of discovery in literature.

13. What does Morrison claim that critics do not say about Sapphira and the Slave Girl?
(a) Why it is successful.
(b) Why it is a failure.
(c) Why it was written.
(d) Why people read it.

14. Who is the author of What Maisie Knew?
(a) Henry James.
(b) Toni Morrison.
(c) Gertrude Stein.
(d) Willa Cather.

15. Why does Morrison claim to struggle with language that evokes hidden signals?
(a) She is a black writer.
(b) She is a female writer.
(c) She is a good writer.
(d) She is a bad writer.

Short Answer Questions

1. What notion must a writer be aware of when reading and writing?

2. How does Morrison feel about the scholar who deemed the term "darky" acceptable?

3. What analogy does Morrison use to describe what studies of racism should focus on?

4. Which word best describes Sapphira?

5. What does Morrison claim is not representative of a black woman for her?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 469 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample