2. What childhood memory does Ellison draw on to deal with his artistic nemesis?
(a) Falling off a large statue.
(b) His father's death.
(c) Learning to play the trumpet.
(d) Being forced to kneel and pray at church.

3. Who lives above Ellison?
(a) Diligent classical singer.
(b) Exercise club.
(c) Tap dancer.
(d) Judo training facility.

4. What song moves Jackson into the public eye?
(a) Amazing Grace.
(b) Der Lieberstein.
(c) Move On Up a Little Higher.
(d) Wings of a Dove.

5. What do the blues capture?
(a) Personality of the singer.
(b) Religion of the Negro people.
(c) The time period in which they were written.
(d) Tragic and comic sense of the human condition.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Mrs. Jackson cooking in "The Way It Is?"

2. What is James Reese Europe known for?

3. Who co-founds modern jazz with Parker?

4. What do all American Negros share?

5. In "Blues People" how are the blues categorized?

Short Essay Questions

1. What experience in Ellison's childhood gives him patience with his upstairs singing neighbor?

2. In the Paris Review (Spring 1955) Ellison was interviewed about his work as a writer. What does he say his first piece of professional writing was?

3. Why does Ellison disagree with Jones when he says "A slave cannot be a man"?

4. Where is the Lefargue Psychiatric Clinic located?

5. What does Ellison tell us about the matriarch, Mrs. Jackson, in "The Way It Is."

6. What type of music does the upstairs singer practice all day?

7. What is the film "Intruder in the Dust" about?

8. Who is Teddy Hill?

9. What does Ellison say about a Negro President?

10. What does Ellison believe Jackson's greatest gift is?

(see the answer keys)

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