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

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

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

5. Where is the “tall, rawboned, red-faced man” from that the narrator encounters on the train in Chapter 10?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. How is ragtime music received in Europe, according to the narrator in Chapter 9?

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

7. How did the author incorporate slave narratives in his descriptions of the South in Chapter 10?

8. Who hires the narrator as a patron in Chapter 7? What does the narrator do for his employer?

9. With whom does the narrator discuss race relations while on the train in Chapter 10?

10. How does the narrative distinguish the differences between the North and South regarding race relations?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the setting of Atlanta, Georgia, and the narrator’s impressions of the city upon arrival. How does the city compare with the narrator’s childhood home in Connecticut? How does he perceive the African Americans of the South to be different than those of the North? Where does the narrator stay upon his arrival?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of race relations in the novel. How is racial prejudice expressed through the language of the narrator during his childhood? How does the language influence the narrator’s views of African Americans and whites? What impact does this language have on readers today?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the underlying racism depicted in the narrator’s classifications of African Americans in Chapter 5. In what ways does this delineation break down to personal prejudice? Do you agree or disagree with the assertions of the narrator? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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