View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the college Ellison attended?

2. Why does Ellison reject the "hard-boiled" novel style of writing?

3. Who is Stanley Edgar Hyman?

4. What does Ralph Ellison's father hope that Ralph will grow up to be?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Ellison's basic quarrel with Hyman?

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

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

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

5. Who was it that suggested to Ellison that he review a book and write a short story?

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

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

8. Where do Ellison and Hyman divide in their understanding of black face minstrel performance?

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

10. What does Ellison find so remarkable about Crane?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Race relations in America have long been a central focus of our culture. In the introduction Ellison prepares the reader to enter this discussion with him. What kind of invitation does he present? What is the emotional tone and feeling of the introduction? What does Ellison reveal about his own perspective on race? Why is it one of the themes of this book of his writing?

Essay Topic 2

"Richard Wright's Blues" explores the history of southern Negro culture. What was the atmosphere Wright grew up in? What would he have been afraid of? Where did the violence, especially the beating and punishment from Negro parents upon their children, come from? How did this environment affect the young Wright? If he had stayed in the south would he have bloomed into the writer and thinker that he did? What did Ellison think about the chances of that happening?

Essay Topic 3

Who is Stephen Crane and why is Ellison so interested in him? What is it about Crane's style of writing that is important to Ellison's thinking about good writing? What does Crane do that makes him unique? Clearly Ellison holds Crane up as a great model for all novelists who follow. Is it Crane's technique, his ability to write in such specific ways, what impresses Ellison or is it Crane's willingness to look into the heart of the American culture and see what is there?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 996 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample