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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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) Friend for whose magazine he wrote his first book review and short story.
(d) Source of Ellison's inspiration and success.

3. What does Ellison suggest as a subtitle for "Primer for White Folks?"
(a) Method for finding Peace and Harmony among the Races.
(b) Comprehensive Study of the Unruly Seas of Race.
(c) How-to book for Bigots and Innocents.
(d) Short Course on the American Negro for Those Who "Beat That Boy".

4. What does Ellison believe is the true "Negro experience?"
(a) A codified, suffocating existence which cannot be understood by others.
(b) A life of unremitting suffering and pain.
(c) There isn't one. Negro persons live diverse and varied lives.
(d) The opposite of the "white experience."

5. Who names Ellison?
(a) The midwife that delivered him.
(b) A passing stranger.
(c) His parish priest.
(d) His father.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What specific folk art form does "Black Boy" reflect?

3. Violence is inflicted upon Wright by family, friends, and society as a whole. What is his response?

4. Why does Ellison begin the speech by referring to Ernest Hemingway?

5. How does Ellison describe Wright's autobiography "Black Boy?"

Short Essay Questions

1. What, for Ellison, is the great shaping event of twentieth-century fiction?

2. What is the difference between the way Hyman and Ellison view "the darky" entertainer?

3. In "Richard Wright's blues" how does Ellison describe the blues?

4. What were some of the catastrophic events which occurred in Wright's life?

5. Why does Ellison consider Stephen Crane to be such a great artist?

6. Ellison originally wanted to be a musician. What changed for him?

7. What does Ellison find so remarkable about Crane?

8. What does Ellison critique about the authors included in the Primer?

9. What is the "hidden name" Ellison is referring in the title of his speech to the Library of Congress in 1064?

10. Though "Black Boy" presents a brutal and violent world, what else does it manage to convey about the young Wright?

(see the answer keys)

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