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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 Roosevelt Ellison.
(b) Ralph Winston Ellison.
(c) Ralph Kramden.
(d) Ralph Waldo Emerson.

2. Who is Stephen Crane?
(a) A 20th century novelist and author of "Here today, gone tomorrow."
(b) A English gentleman who has fast holdings of land, slaves and wealth.
(c) Ellison's first English professor who wrote "Black like me."
(d) A novelist born just after the Civil War.

3. What does Ellison believe writing is?
(a) A way to criticize others.
(b) Mindless activity.
(c) Channeling of higher beings.
(d) Ethical instrument.

4. That Ellison's first novel might win a prestigious award makes him think what?
(a) There is a crisis in the American novel.
(b) The committee has made a huge mistake.
(c) He is chosen only because he is Negro.
(d) He is a brilliant writer.

5. What is minstrel show black face?
(a) White performers painting their faces black and acting in a pseudo-Negro nonsensical way.
(b) Southern music and dance.
(c) Dark themed short skits and plays in vaudeville.
(d) Black actors acting in minstrel shows that are comic and touching.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which critics of "Black Boy" does Ellison want to respond to?

2. Why does Ellison choose to analyze Mark Twain?

3. What is Ellison's original choice of career?

4. Who is Mrs. L.C. McFarland?

5. What does Ellison believe is the true "Negro experience?"

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why does Ellison say that the least form of segregation is the word?

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

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

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

7. What does Ellison find so remarkable about Crane?

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

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

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

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