View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Why does Ellison's family live in a middle class white neighborhood in Oklahoma City?
(a) His mother, a single parent, is a custodian in an apartment building there.
(b) Ellison's father made a great deal of money in the railroad business.
(c) There is no Negro neighborhood in Oklahoma City.
(d) Ellison's family has always been well to do and had nice houses.

3. Where might Crane have gotten information about the Civil War?
(a) His brother.
(b) His own experience.
(c) Manuscripts and letters.
(d) Intensive scholarly research.

4. How does Ellison start writing?
(a) Richard Wright asks him to review a novel for Wright's magazine.
(b) Ellison fails to get into the jazz band he wants so he writes about it.
(c) His mother asks him to write the story of her life.
(d) Ellison is commissioned by the New York City Opera to write a libretto.

5. Where and when is "The World and The Jug" published?
(a) New York Times, 1965.
(b) New Leader, 1963 and 1964.
(c) Mississippian, 1967 and 1968.
(d) Paris Review, 1966.

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

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

8. Why do Crane and his wife move to England?
(a) It was more civilized.
(b) To escape rumors that she was an ex-madam.
(c) He was wanted for several crimes.
(d) It was more exotic to Crane than New York.

9. How old is Crane when he wrote his masterpiece "The Red Badge of Courage?"
(a) 45.
(b) 79.
(c) 21.
(d) 16,

10. Which American writers is the piece "Black Boys and Native Sons" about?
(a) Joe Henry, Jules Verne and Thomas Edison.
(b) William Faulkner, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway.
(c) Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin.
(d) Irving Howe, Ralph Ellison and Joe Frasier.

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

12. How many children are in Stephen Crane's birth family?
(a) 1.
(b) 14.
(c) 2.
(d) 20.

13. What is the name of the college Ellison attended?
(a) Harvard.
(b) Tuskegee.
(c) University of Oklahoma.
(d) Rutgers.

14. 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.

15. Other white cultures have black face type entertainment, but what is different about American black face?
(a) American black face is always light and fun.
(b) The American history of slavery makes it a "ritual of exorcism."
(c) American black face is performed by Negro actors only.
(d) The American history of inclusive entertainment makes it acceptable.

Short Answer Questions

1. What writers does Ellison wish had been included in the "Primer for White Folks"?

2. What are Crane's parents like?

3. What three ways do Negroes in Wright's childhood survive?

4. How old is Stephen Crane when he dies?

5. Where and when is the essay "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke" published?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 603 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample