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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 2, Sound and the Mainstream, Section 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is Richard Wright born?
(a) On a train as it traveled from Georgia to Maine.
(b) In the New York City Negro hospital
(c) In a log cabin located in the heart of Nebraska.
(d) On a Mississippi plantation.

2. What does the phrase "to finger its jagged grain and to transcend it" refer to?
(a) The power of the blues.
(b) The complexity of writing fiction.
(c) To climb great mountains.
(d) To walk the razor's edge of reason.

3. What does Wright do at age four?
(a) Begins to read.
(b) Plays the piano.
(c) Makes a speech at church.
(d) Sets the house on fire.

4. Does Ellison have "Invisible Man" completely thought out prior to writing it?
(a) Yes, the conceptual framework was in place.
(b) Ellison refuses to discuss his writing method.
(c) No, he just wrote as it came to him.
(d) Partly, he knew what the ending would be, but that was all.

5. In "The Art of Fiction: An Interview" what does Ellison say at the very beginning?
(a) I don't have much time so hurry up.
(b) "Invisible Man" is not an autobiography.
(c) All questions must be submitted on paper first.
(d) Did you hear the one about the three guys who go into a bar?

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Ellison describe Wright's autobiography "Black Boy?"

2. What do the three sections of "Invisible Man" represent?

3. What is Ellison reading when he begins writing "Invisible Man?"

4. Is Ellison interested primarily in injustice or art?

5. In "Blues People" how are the blues categorized?

(see the answer key)

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