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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. When was Frederick Douglass born?

2. Where do the narrator and the millionaire walk and sit in chairs along the sidewalk in Chapter 9?

3. Whose love from the opera Faust does the narrator describe as a mockery in Chapter 9?

4. The narrator’s harrowed state of mind and seasickness keeps him miserable on the ship for how long before it begins to lift in Chapter 9?

5. The narrator claims in Chapter 10, “I have no doubt that the Negro would make a good Chinaman, with exception of” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator do upon arriving in New York in Chapter 6?

2. How does the narrator describe the patrons of the club where he plays music in Chapter 6?

3. What happens to the wealthy widow in Chapter 8? Why?

4. Where do the millionaire and the narrator spend time in Europe in Chapter 9? What role does the narrator play in their relationship?

5. How does the narrator describe the rooming house and landlord where he first stays in New York in Chapter 6?

6. How realistic are the hardships faced by African Americans as depicted in the narrative?

7. How does the narrator respond to the events surrounding the widow in the end of Chapter 8?

8. What does the narrator get in exchange for his work for the millionaire in Europe? What are his impressions of the continent?

9. What musical style does the narrator describe in depth in Chapter 5? When did this style emerge?

10. What have critics noted in regard to the relationship between the millionaire and the narrator in the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define and identify motif in literature, and the motifs in the narrative. How does violence apply to the novel as a motif? In what ways does the narrator associate violence with the African American community? How does this differ from the white community?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author of the book and its genre. Why did James Weldon Johnson choose to use the term “autobiography” in the work’s title? Why was it initially published with an anonymous author? When was it republished with the author’s name? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the narrator’s relationship with and feelings for his father in the narrative. How does the narrator react upon learning the truth of his father’s identity? How does this realization influence the narrator’s personal identification? When does the narrator lose touch with his father, and why?

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