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

2. What does Wright do at age four?

3. What type of jug does Ellison say Howe imagines Negro people to be in?

4. Where is the essay "Richard Wright's Blues" published and when?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why does Ellison choose to write about Faulkner?

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

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

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

7. What were the two greatest influences upon Crane's life, in Ellison's estimation?

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

9. Why was the young Ellison drawn to reading?

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

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

In "Living with Music" Ellison literally finds himself overwhelmed by the group of people who live around him. His struggle to find his own peace within a larger and very noisy society is a metaphor for the way he sees the individual constantly struggling against the group in life. How does he find peace? What method does he use to carve out his space and literally "be heard?"

Essay Topic 3

In the essay about Twentieth Century Fiction Ellison is sharply critical of Hemingway. What is it that Hemingway lacks which disappoints Ellison so much? Is his criticism solely of Hemingway or is Ellison critiquing a generation of writers? What changes in the twenty century after World War I? Why does the Negro character disappear? What is Ellison's final conclusion in reference to Hemingway and his technical brilliance?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,127 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample