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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 word from Chapter 7 means a frequent visitor to a place?

2. What character in the book is killed at the end of Chapter 8?

3. The millionaire offers to take the narrator to Europe with him instead of taking whom in Chapter 9?

4. What city does the narrator say “stands for the conservatism, the solidarity, the utilitarianism” in Chapter 9?

5. The narrator claims that he did not feel at ease until the ship was where in Chapter 9?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Whom does the narrator spot at the opera in Chapter 9? What is his reaction?

3. How does the narrator describe the success of the Chinese restaurant under the “Club” in Chapter 7?

4. Why does the millionaire decide to go to Europe? Where does he go while there?

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

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

7. How are the parties thrown by the millionaire described by the narrator in the novel?

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

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

10. How is the millionaire described by the narrator? What does he look like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Define irony and the different forms of irony used in literature. What is dramatic irony and how does it apply to the novel? What are examples of irony in Chapter 5? What is ironic about the narrator’s perceptions of personal and racial identity in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the character of the narrator’s mother and her relationship with the narrator in his youth. Why does the narrator’s mother not inform him of his heritage before he discovers the truth at school? How do the other students react to the narrator’s misunderstanding with the principal? How does the narrator’s discovery of his black heritage influence his personal view of himself and of the others around him?

(see the answer keys)

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