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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What establishment is to the right of Ellison?
(a) Dog training school with night classes.
(b) Police Academy with indoor shooting range.
(c) Restaurant with an enormous jute box.
(d) Brothel with large dance hall.

2. What magazine does Ellison write music reviews for?
(a) New Yorker.
(b) Music Town Tonight.
(c) Saturday Review.
(d) Negro Nightlife.

3. Why does "Invisible Man" take so long to complete?
(a) No ending.
(b) Not perfect enough.
(c) Too many versions of the book.
(d) The transitions the character goes through.

4. What does Jones analyze "bop" as?
(a) Conscious gesture of separation.
(b) Misguided anger towards society.
(c) Cultivated blues disguised as popular culture.
(d) Attempt to circumvent critics.

5. Jones contends "A slave cannot be a ______" (fill in word).
(a) Musician.
(b) Intellectual.
(c) Communist.
(d) Man.

6. Is Ellison interested primarily in injustice or art?
(a) Both equally.
(b) Neither.
(c) Injustice.
(d) Art.

7. What is James Reese Europe known for?
(a) Starting a fire at Minton's.
(b) Playing the tenor sax.
(c) Protesting segregation.
(d) Inventing the fox trot.

8. When does Jones place the beginnings of the blues?
(a) At the Negro's conscious appearance on the American scene.
(b) World War II.
(c) During the Civil Rights movement.
(d) In ancient times throughout Africa.

9. What is remarkable about the psychiatric staff?
(a) Have no experience.
(b) Have no psychiatric training.
(c) Not licensed by the state.
(d) Receive no salary.

10. What does Jones advise his audience to do?
(a) Approach his work, "Blues People" as a theoretical endeavor.
(b) Read his poetry outdoors.
(c) Protest against the Vietnam war.
(d) Eat plenty of vegetables.

11. What street is Minton's on?
(a) 11th Avenue.
(b) Broadway.
(c) 118th Street.
(d) 1st Avenue.

12. Where is Minton's located?
(a) Manhattan.
(b) Harlem.
(c) Brooklyn.
(d) Cleveland.

13. Where is the book review "Blues People" published and when?
(a) Saturday Review, 1945.
(b) Tukumpsee Reader, 1930.
(c) New York Review, 1964.
(d) Cleveland Times, 1974.

14. Who interviews Ellison in "The Art of Fiction?"
(a) John Jacob & Nancy Kerry.
(b) Gertrude Whittall and T. S. Eliot.
(c) Donald Gibson and Bob Edwards.
(d) Alfred Chester & Vilma Howard.

15. What kind of bird does Ellison say Parker is?
(a) Silly Turkey.
(b) Haunting Vulture.
(c) Sad Crow.
(d) Poor Robin.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why are slaves able to express themselves in art?

2. What is the first book Ellison ever reviews in a publication?

3. Where does Charlie Parker die?

4. Where is Ellison living in the essay "Living with Music?"

5. What is Minton's Playhouse?

(see the answer keys)

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