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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 childhood memory does Ellison draw on to deal with his artistic nemesis?

2. What two types of music is Ellison torn between as a child?

3. How does Ellison describe Mahalia Jackson?

4. What is Jimmy Rushing's instrument?

5. What do all American Negros share?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the two categories Jones places the blues in?

2. What captures the attention of many critics about "Blues People."

3. Who does the song "They picked poor robin clean" remind Ellison of?

4. What place does "Living with Music" describe?

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

6. What type of food is served at Minton's?

7. What does the "drunk of legend" who lives on the corner do?

8. Where is "Minton's Playhouse" located?

9. Where is the Lefargue Psychiatric Clinic located?

10. What does Ellison understand the term "Negro culture" to mean?

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 "Some Questions and Some Answers" Ellison makes the provocative statement that there is no Negro culture. What does he mean by this? How does he support his argument? What history does he draw upon to reveal his thinking on this matter?

Essay Topic 3

"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?

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