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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mark Twain do with the character of Jim that breaks through the black face minstrel tradition?
(a) He's a complex, dignified and very human person.
(b) Jim performs black face without the paint.
(c) Jim is stereotypical and boring.
(d) Jim's very serious and not at all fun.

2. In the essay "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke" what does Ellison say black face allows white America to do?
(a) Avoid looking at the shallowness of white American culture.
(b) Laugh and forget about its troubles and woes.
(c) Pour out its hatred and fear in a theatrical form.
(d) See the Negro story from a different perspective.

3. Who is Henry Bowman Otto Davis?
(a) Little white boy known as Hoolie befriended by the young Ellison.
(b) Father of Ellison's grade school nemesis, Horatio Davis.
(c) Editor of the first magazine which published Ellison.
(d) Author of "Radios and Communication, a guide."

4. What are Crane's parents like?
(a) Marxist sympathizers.
(b) Libertine alcoholics.
(c) Fundamentalist Christians.
(d) French born intellectuals.

5. What does Ellison say good fiction is made of?
(a) Fun.
(b) What is real.
(c) Eternal truth.
(d) Tricks of the trade.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ellison's original career direction?

2. Why do Crane and his wife move to England?

3. Other white cultures have black face type entertainment, but what is different about American black face?

4. What is the relationship between Ellison and Stanley Hyman?

5. What does Ralph Ellison's father hope that Ralph will grow up to be?

(see the answer key)

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