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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 first book Ellison ever reviews in a publication?
2. What institutions does Minton's evolve out of?
3. What is remarkable about the psychiatric staff?
4. Who lives above Ellison?
5. What does Ellison say slaves had in place of freedom?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Ellison say is the invisible man's discovery?
2. What does the "drunk of legend" who lives on the corner do?
3. What captures the attention of many critics about "Blues People."
4. What does Ellison tell us about the matriarch, Mrs. Jackson, in "The Way It Is."
5. Who is Teddy Hill?
6. What type of food is served at Minton's?
7. Where is "Minton's Playhouse" located?
8. What type of music does the upstairs singer practice all day?
9. 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?
10. What does Ellison say about a Negro President?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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 2
Ellison's childhood is joyful and full of many artistic influences. What in the interview "That Same Pain, That Same Pleasure" gives you the most insight into his childhood? What activities stir up in the young Ellison that romantic longing and belief that any kind of life is possible? How does music and dance affect his life? Who are his heroes? Why?
Essay Topic 3
In "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke" Ellison challenges Stanley Hyman's assertion the "smart man playing dumb" role is primarily Negro. What does Ellison propose is the true case? What examples does he use to argue that this "joke" is much broader than Negro culture? How does this understanding fit with the larger theme in Ellison's work of the relationship between Negro culture and American culture?
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This section contains 779 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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