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 does Ryan tell Mr. Brown as they leave the Met from his high school field trip?

2. Where did Mr. Brown take Ryan to buy clothes sometimes?

3. Who calls Ryan to tell him his father has died?

4. Where does Valerie move herself and Ryan after leaving the trailer park in Chapter 11?

5. Which family members of Ryan's were in the audience to hear him sing in his first opera a the Met on opening night?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does winning the Met's competition for young singers mean for a young singer's career?

2. Why did the child piano prodigy Ken Noda abruptly stop performing piano concerts?

3. When does Ryan first settle on the idea that he would like to sing at the Met someday?

4. Why did the famous opera singer Marian Anderson perform a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939?

5. What happens to Ryan on the night of November 4, 2008, when Barack Obama is elected president?

6. In Chapter 13, why is Ryan afraid he may become like the singer Terrence Coleman?

7. In Chapter 9, what effect does the black opera singer Eric Owens say race has on the career of opera singers?

8. What do Ryan's music teachers at the Governor's School think of his voice when they first hear him sing?

9. Why does it bother Ryan so much when people ask him to sing the song Ol' Man River?

10. What does Brian Zeger, who runs the Met's training program, say is the real strength of Ryan's voice?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What particular character traits and aspects does Ryan possess that he attributes to his father, Cecil? How does Ryan's mother seem to feel about Ryan's affection for his father? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text in support.

Essay Topic 2

Ryan's family is perplexed when they realize he is serious about studying opera, to the point that his aunt Esther says "Isn't that a white thing?" (118). Write an essay analyzing the reasons Bergner puts forward explaining why black opera singers are still facing a more difficult road in building successful careers at the highest levels of opera.

Essay Topic 3

Mrs. Bette Hughes, a teacher of Ryan's from elementary school, has a very significant impact on Ryan's life. Write an essay discussing Mrs. Hughes's significance in Ryan's life.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 921 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample