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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. Why does Ellison choose to analyze Mark Twain?
(a) Twain offers a unique historical perspective.
(b) Twain was a humorist.
(c) Twain was a slave owner and trader.
(d) Twain was married to a Negro woman.

2. Which critics of "Black Boy" does Ellison want to respond to?
(a) Those who believe Wright is exaggerating the truth.
(b) Those who believe Wright is self-involved.
(c) Those who believe Wright is a communist.
(d) Those who see the book as a miracle and its author a mystery.

3. What three ways do Negroes in Wright's childhood survive?
(a) Vote, campaign, or legislate.
(b) Embrace, celebrate, or be grateful.
(c) Accept, repress or fight.
(d) Enjoy, relax, or savor.

4. As a child what is Wright unable to distinguish between?
(a) Day and night.
(b) His fair-skinned grandmother and the white women of the town.
(c) Right and Wrong.
(d) When to be quiet and when to speak.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Ellison consider Stephen Crane a great artist?

2. What is minstrel show black face?

3. How does Ellison describe his relationship with Howe?

4. How old is Stephen Crane when he dies?

5. Where and when is "The World and The Jug" published?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ellison leave the rather bitter dialogue with Howe?

2. Why does Ellison choose to write about Faulkner?

3. What does the Negro say when white America holds up twentieth century fiction and say "this is the American reality?"

4. What does the phrase "The World and the Jug" refers to?

5. What does the phrase "beating that boy" refer to?

6. What was Ellison's writing process for "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke?"

7. What is the common image of the Negro in contemporary literature according to Ellison?

8. Did Richard Wright influence Baldwin or Ellison?

9. What does the second half of the title "Hidden Names and Complex Fate" refer to?

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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