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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. Erotic provides the ___________ of sharing an experience with another, according to Audre Lorde.

2. Audre Lorde points out the flaw in thinking that another group freedom of ___________ is to jeopardize one's own freedoms.

3. What imagery does Audre Lorde question in Mary Daly's book as she perceives it to be filled with white examples?

4. African ________ and the Amazon women of ancient Dahoney are examples Audre Lorde cites of women-identified women.

5. Audre Lorde feels that the erotic can be a tool for ____________ and an energizing force to bring about change.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Audre Lorde believe is missing from Mary Daly's work and she begins to point this out in the letter?

2. What does Staples' article seem to think of black women, according to the way Audre Lorde interprets it?

3. What are some of the ills of modern life which Audre Lorde believes poetry can help to cure?

4. How does Audre Lorde define the idea of erotic and what it means to be erotic in the context of this chapter?

5. To what does Audre Lorde attribute the intense distrust between black women in her society?

6. What are the four forms of human blindness, according to Audre Lorde in this section?

7. Why did Audre Lorde make the trip to Russia as she describes it at the start of the book?

8. What are some of the regrets that Audre Lorde sees in her own life as she admits in her speech?

9. What happens to hopes and to dreams when they are put into language in poetry, according to Audre Lorde?

10. Where did Audre Lorde give the speech "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lorde believes that people need to have groups in which they can be supported as this will help them to be more understanding as a whole.

Part 1: Why do you think that people need or do not need other people?

Part 2: What happens when a group or a person doesn't have any sort of support in their life?

Part 3: How do you think your life might be different if you didn't have any support from others?

Essay Topic 2

Audre Lorde defines four words which signal the human blindness she sees. They are racism, sexism, heterosexism, and homophobia.

Part 1: Do you think that Lorde is missing any other forms of human blindness?

Part 2: How do you think your life is affected by these forms of human blindness?

Part 3: Why do you think the Lorde singles out these forms of blindness? What blindness might she be showing in the list she has created?

Essay Topic 3

Lorde challenges the way that Daly presents her arguments about women and radical feminism.

Part 1: Why do you think that Lorde seeks to criticize Daly rather than to celebrate the strengths of the book?

Part 2: Do you think the Lorde is being unnecessarily critical of Daly's work?

Part 3: How do you think Lorde could have opened up a dialogue with Daly, rather than to simply write a letter of challenge?

(see the answer keys)

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