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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 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Who is Stanley Edgar Hyman?
(a) The prominent Negro intellectual who wrote "Santa Claus is Black."
(b) A lyricist and comedian in the 1930's.
(c) Ellison's uncle who has a good sense of humor.
(d) A scholar who wrote on the relationship between Negro literature and folklore.

3. According to Ellison what does the term "the grays" mean?
(a) Slang word for feeling bored.
(b) Negro term for white people.
(c) American melting pot.
(d) Negro term for nightfall.

4. What is minstrel show black face?
(a) White performers painting their faces black and acting in a pseudo-Negro nonsensical way.
(b) Southern music and dance.
(c) Black actors acting in minstrel shows that are comic and touching.
(d) Dark themed short skits and plays in vaudeville.

5. For Ellison a primary difference between Twain and Hemingway is what?
(a) Twain was trained in writing and Hemingway was not.
(b) Twain was an abolitionist and Hemingway was a prohibitionists.
(c) Hemingway writes about his own personal myth and Twain writes about the national myth.
(d) Twain was creative and Hemingway factual.

Short Answer Questions

1. Hemingway carries on Twain's technical discoveries in writing but loses what?

2. Why does Oklahoma hold some freedom and equality for Negroes at the time Ellison lived there?

3. What musician does Ellison see as the true "trickster" archetype?

4. What does Ellison say good fiction is made of?

5. What is Ellison's original career direction?

(see the answer key)

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