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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What specific folk art form does "Black Boy" reflect?
(a) The blues.
(b) Folk sculpture.
(c) Modern dance.
(d) African ethnic mask making.

3. Where is the essay "Richard Wright's Blues" published and when?
(a) The New York Times, Fall 1955.
(b) The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Summer 1935.
(c) The Oklahoman Messenger, Winter 1919.
(d) The Antioch Review, Summer 1945.

4. What does Ellison praise about "Primer for White Folks?"
(a) Short and to the point.
(b) Realistic and therefore does not contain much hope.
(c) The search for images of black and white fraternity.
(d) Easy to read and young children will like it.

5. How does Ellison describe his boyhood experience in Oklahoma?
(a) Poverty stricken existence with little enjoyment.
(b) Series of mind numbing and violent episodes.
(c) Very controlled and regimented experience.
(d) Romantic aspirations in the spirit of frontier adventurousness.

6. Who is Ellison named after?
(a) Ralph Kramden.
(b) Ralph Roosevelt Ellison.
(c) Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(d) Ralph Winston Ellison.

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

8. Why does Ellison consider Stephen Crane a great artist?
(a) He was the first great Negro author.
(b) Under pressure and panic he stuck to his guns.
(c) He wrote so many books.
(d) He was talented in so many artistic fields.

9. How old is Stephen Crane when he dies?
(a) 92.
(b) 102.
(c) 29.
(d) 50.

10. Why does Oklahoma hold some freedom and equality for Negroes at the time Ellison lived there?
(a) It is fully integrated and equality was legislated.
(b) There are almost no Negroes in Oklahoma.
(c) It has no tradition of slavery.
(d) Oklahoma is founded on Mormon principles which forbade prejudice.

11. What is the relationship between Ellison and Stanley Hyman?
(a) Writers who abhor each other's work.
(b) Cousins who grew up together in Oklahoma.
(c) Professors competing over the same university job.
(d) Friends and intellectual sparing partners.

12. As a child what is Wright unable to distinguish between?
(a) When to be quiet and when to speak.
(b) Day and night.
(c) Right and Wrong.
(d) His fair-skinned grandmother and the white women of the town.

13. 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.

14. Why does Ellison chose not to emphasize the details of racial hardship in his life?
(a) Too painful for him to speak about.
(b) To avoid boring the audience.
(c) It is a white audience and he fears they will be uncomfortable.
(d) It is a Negro audience and they already know his story.

15. Who is Richard Wright to Ellison?
(a) Hero and the mentor of all Ellison's work.
(b) Friend for whose magazine he wrote his first book review and short story.
(c) Source of Ellison's inspiration and success.
(d) Spiritual father who nurtured and guided Ellison's writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which American writers is the piece "Black Boys and Native Sons" about?

2. For Ellison a primary difference between Twain and Hemingway is what?

3. Who is Stanley Hyman's favorite archetypal figure?

4. How many children are in Stephen Crane's birth family?

5. What is the Negro child taught to see the white man as?

(see the answer keys)

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