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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. How did Hughes begin earning his own money while he lived with his father?

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

3. Where did Hughes meet Frau Schultz?

4. What was the name of Hughes's horse at his father's house?

5. Where was Hughes when he was refused service at the train station soda fountain?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was Hughes's ethnic heritage? How did this affect his travels in Africa?

3. Who was Edward? How did Hughes meet him?

4. 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?

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

6. Why did Hughes throw all of his books overboard while traveling to Africa? What did this act symbolize?

7. How did Hughes go about earning money in Mexico? What were his plans for the money he earned there?

8. 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?

9. Where did Hughes find a more permanent job in Paris? What were his initial job duties? What important new perk did this job offer him?

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

Hughes met a child, Edward, while in an African port. Hughes said his meetings with Edward inspired his best short story "African Morning." What was Edward's story? Why did Hughes find Edward's situation especially painful? Why did his encounter with Edward inspire a story?

Essay Topic 2

Hughes approached the subject of his relationship with his father over the years of his growing up in poverty. Discuss Langston Hughes's relationship with his father James. In what ways are they similar? How do their differences showcase who Langston Hughes is?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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