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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. Where did Hughes find a job when he returned to New York?

2. How much a night was the first room Hughes stayed in Paris?

3. Who was Auntie Reed and Uncle Reed?

4. Where did Hughes finally find a job?

5. What was the general atmosphere on the S.S. Malone during its journey on the coast of Africa?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Hughes's life like during his senior year in high school, which was also the end of the war?

2. What were the three tragedies Hughes described happening in the village before his departure back to the states?

3. Who was Frau Schultz? What role did she play in Hughes's life?

4. What kinds of things happened on board Hughes's ship from New York to Rotterdam? How were they different than the typical passage aboard the S.S. Malone?

5. What did Hughes notice about the way Mexicans and Negros were treated differently, particularly on his way home from Mexico to Cleveland, Ohio?

6. Who were the Reeds? Why did Hughes know them? What important event in Hughes's life as a young child happened while he knew the Reeds?

7. What were some of the sights and sounds Hughes witnessed upon entering New York waters? How did he react to them?

8. What were James Hughes's plans for his son? How did they differ from what Hughes wanted for himself?

9. Who did Hughes stand in line to see at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York? What did he think of the performance?

10. How did Hughes meet someone in Paris who helped him find a place to stay, and who was the person? What was the surprise Hughes found when he went up to his room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During his time at college, Hughes was introduced to a woman, whose name he did not reveal, who would become his patron and allow him to write without fears of poverty. Discuss this woman and her relationship with Hughes. Describe her and her interest in Hughes and his writing. How did the two of them communicate with each other? How did the relationship finally end?

Essay Topic 2

While in Washington D.C., Hughes found himself face to face with Vachel Lindsay. Describe the meeting of the two men. Why was this meeting important to Hughes's career? What was the story of the "bus boy poet"? There was a particular irony of Hughes's meeting Lindsay at the Wardman Park Hotel. What was that irony?

Essay Topic 3

Hughes opened his autobiography with the line "Life is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pull" and closed it with "Literature is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pulled. I'm still pulling." Discuss these two statements and how they pertain to Hughes, his autobiography, and his life.

(see the answer keys)

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