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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Ellison describe his relationship with Howe?
(a) Comrades in arms.
(b) Bitterly opposed enemies.
(c) Antagonistic cooperation.
(d) Alienation and scorn.

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

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

4. What writers does Ellison wish had been included in the "Primer for White Folks"?
(a) More Negro writers.
(b) Young unknown writers.
(c) Hispanic authors.
(d) Major, widely-read American authors.

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

6. What folk tradition does Ellison believe the black face figure grows out of?
(a) Africa.
(b) Europe.
(c) America.
(d) West Indies.

7. Violence is inflicted upon Wright by family, friends, and society as a whole. What is his response?
(a) Passivity.
(b) Violence.
(c) Seclusion.
(d) Retreat.

8. What is the origin of the essay "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke?"
(a) Short story about lynching.
(b) "Invisible Man."
(c) Treatise on the folk art of tying knots.
(d) Letter written by Ellison when he was living in Rome to an old friend.

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

10. What does Ralph Ellison's father hope that Ralph will grow up to be?
(a) Poet.
(b) College professor.
(c) Jazz musician.
(d) Police officer.

11. What musician does Ellison see as the true "trickster" archetype?
(a) Mahalia Jackson.
(b) Jack Benny.
(c) Charlie Parker.
(d) Louis Armstrong.

12. That Ellison's first novel might win a prestigious award makes him think what?
(a) He is a brilliant writer.
(b) He is chosen only because he is Negro.
(c) There is a crisis in the American novel.
(d) The committee has made a huge mistake.

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

14. Why does Ellison begin the speech by referring to Ernest Hemingway?
(a) Hemingway once called Ellison by the wrong name, Emerson.
(b) The name Hemingway is a pseudonym.
(c) Hemingway is a writer Ellison strongly identifies with.
(d) Hemingway is often misspelled and therefore hidden.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What assumption does Ellison start with when writing about Negro persons?

2. What does Ellison say the "Negro problem" actually is?

3. Where does Ellison say civil wars are fought?

4. Why does Ellison's family live in a middle class white neighborhood in Oklahoma City?

5. Where might Crane have gotten information about the Civil War?

(see the answer keys)

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