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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is stolen along with the narrator’s money from his trunk in Chapter 4?
(a) A pair of shoes.
(b) A jacket.
(c) A hat.
(d) A necktie.

2. The landlord of the boarding house in Chapter 5 makes approximately how many cigars per day?
(a) 100.
(b) 220.
(c) 60.
(d) 140.

3. The narrator’s mother supported herself and her son by what means, according to the narrator in Chapter 1?
(a) Tutoring students.
(b) Sewing.
(c) Giving violin lessons.
(d) Growing vegetables.

4. How old is the narrator when his mother decides to enter him into public school?
(a) 11.
(b) 5.
(c) 15.
(d) 9.

5. Who does the narrator say stood at the head of his list of heroes for a long time in Chapter 2?
(a) Christopher Columbus.
(b) King David.
(c) Charles Darwin.
(d) Jesus.

Short Answer Questions

1. How much money per week does the narrator earn as the “reader” at the cigar factory in Chapter 5?

2. Whose schoolwork did the narrator largely complete for him, as described in Chapter 2?

3. What does the narrator say he had a particular fondness for in his childhood in Chapter 1?

4. All of the fellow boarders at the boarding house where the narrator stays in Chapter 5 work as what?

5. What does the narrator have for breakfast that is described as “boiled to the consistency where it could be eaten with a fork” in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man? What secret does he discuss in Chapter 1?

2. In what ways does the narrator show blindness and naiveté regarding his race?

3. Into what classes does the narrator categorize African Americans in Chapter 5?

4. What elements does the novel share with the Realist Movement in literary style?

5. How does the theme of identity apply to the novel? How does it apply to the narrator?

6. What does the narrator discover when he encounters the porter at a dance in Chapter 5?

7. How is the second Pullman car porter described by the narrator in Chapter 4?

8. How does dramatic irony relate to The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?

9. How is the early childhood of the narrator described in Chapter 1? Where does he live?

10. What is early education like for the narrator? When does he enter public school and how is this setting described?

(see the answer keys)

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