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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 would happen if gays were to fight back against the police during beatings?

2. At the football field, Jess is verbally assaulted with anti-Semitic and ____________ taunts.

3. In what time period does STONE BUTCH BLUES take place?

4. What does Jess put her clothes in when she leaves home?

5. How is the factory best characterized in the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the circumstances in which Jess is deliberately set up to be hurt at the bindery.

2. Define a butch, a femme, and a drag queen.

3. Why does Jess ultimately run away from home?

4. Why did the butches and femmes have no recourse against the police brutality?

5. What happens to Jess on her first night on her own?

6. What unusual request can Jess not meet after the death of Butch Ro?

7. How does Jess accept the fact that a black man gets a job she is capable of too?

8. What is Tifka's and why does Jess find it a haven?

9. Describe the nature of factory life in the 1960s.

10. Even though Jess experiences anti-Semitic cruelty, what eclipses this hatred directed toward her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The role of parental influence is a strong one and mostly negative on Jess. How was Jess' family fighting its own battles related to anti-Semitism? Does that help to explain why they could not risk a lesbian daughter to add to their torment? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Explain the concept of loneliness as it exhibits in the story. Which of the characters are lonely? Are they all lonely in some way? Explain the loneliness and the methods and attempts to overcome it.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the overall setting for the novel. Why does Feinberg use the setting she does? What is the time period of the story? How important is the time period to the attitudes and issues of the characters?

(see the answer keys)

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