View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why are slaves able to express themselves in art?
(a) They were given artistic education by slave owners.
(b) They came from African cultures where art was highly functional.
(c) Entertainment was enforced by white culture.
(d) Art was seen as harmless by slave owners.

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

3. What does the drunk of legend who lives on the corner like to yell?
(a) I'm lost.
(b) Ain't nobody here but me.
(c) Shut up.
(d) It's a long way to Tipperary.

4. In "The Art of Fiction: An Interview" what does Ellison say at the very beginning?
(a) Did you hear the one about the three guys who go into a bar?
(b) All questions must be submitted on paper first.
(c) "Invisible Man" is not an autobiography.
(d) I don't have much time so hurry up.

5. Where does Charlie Parker die?
(a) Crossing the Atlantic.
(b) Hotel suite of a Baroness.
(c) Alley behind Minton's.
(d) Mental hospital.

6. What does Ellison say slaves had in place of freedom?
(a) Suffering, despair, darkness.
(b) Early death, disease, drunkenness.
(c) Dementia, mental illness, emptiness.
(d) Blues, spirituals, jazz.

7. What does Ellison read in 1935 that moves and intrigues him?
(a) Voltaire's "Moliere."
(b) T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."
(c) Shakespeare's "Hamlet."
(d) R. Wright's "Black Boy."

8. What institutions does Minton's evolve out of?
(a) Clef Club and Rhythm Club.
(b) Asbury Baptist and League of Women Voters.
(c) NAACP and YMCA.
(d) New York Jazz Organization and Rockefeller Trust.

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

10. What race of people are allowed into Minton's?
(a) Negro musicians and white customers.
(b) White people.
(c) Negro people.
(d) Everybody is allowed in.

11. How does Ellison define the "understanding of art?"
(a) Limited to a very few elite patrons.
(b) It is not to be understood, only felt.
(c) Created by the whims of the culture at the time.
(d) Depending upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity.

12. Where is Ellison living in the essay "Living with Music?"
(a) Cabin on board ship.
(b) Vermont barn.
(c) Tiny ground floor rear apartment.
(d) Across from the Manhattan School of Music.

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

14. What is the basic spiritual outlook of the American Negro?
(a) Cosmological.
(b) Pentecostal.
(c) Ontological.
(d) Protestant.

15. Who are the two primary managers of Minton's?
(a) Henry Minton and Ralph Ellison.
(b) Henry Minton and Joey Minton.
(c) Henry Minton and Teddy Hill.
(d) Henry Minton and Louis Armstrong.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who co-founds modern jazz with Parker?

2. What do the three sections of "Invisible Man" represent?

3. What is the final grade Jackson finished in school?

4. What is the fee for clients at the Lafargue Psychiatric Clinic?

5. What does the chaos of noise cause in Ellison?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 508 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample