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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is Pecola’s father when she goes to stay with the MacTeer family in Part II?
(a) In Europe.
(b) In Mexico.
(c) In the hospital.
(d) In jail.

2. What does Toni Morrison refer to as the “most delicate member of society” in the book’s Foreword?
(a) A child.
(b) A new bride.
(c) An old man.
(d) An old woman.

3. The narrator states in Part II, “The Breedloves did not live in a storefront because they were having temporary difficulty adjusting to the cutbacks at the plant. They lived there because they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed” what?
(a) “They did not deserve any better.”
(b) “God would save them.”
(c) “They were ugly.”
(d) “Their luck would change.”

4. The narrator says in Part II, “So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not want” what?
(a) “Me to die.”
(b) “My money.”
(c) “My help.”
(d) “My advice.”

5. What does Pecola pray for every night, according to the narrator in Part II?
(a) Food to eat.
(b) A new dress.
(c) Blue eyes.
(d) A boyfriend.

6. The author states in the book's Foreword that when one is "hated for things we have no control over and cannot change," it is some consolation to know what?
(a) That the hatred is accurate.
(b) That the hatred is not accurate.
(c) That the hatred is unjustified.
(d) That the hatred is justified.

7. The narrator states in Part II, “The only living thing in the Breedloves' house was” what?
(a) “The couch.”
(b) “The coal stove.”
(c) “The bed.”
(d) “The kitchen sink.”

8. The author writes in the novel's Foreword that when she began writing The Bluest Eye, she was interested in the "far more tragic and disabling consequences of accepting rejection as" what?
(a) “Legitimate.”
(b) “Beautiful.”
(c) “Honorable.”
(d) “Inevitable.”

9. In speaking of Pecola’s father in Part I, the narrator says, “Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his” what?
(a) “Immoral thinking.”
(b) “Evil and sadness.”
(c) “Criminal behavior.”
(d) “Lust or despair.”

10. How is Jane’s father described in the story in Part I?
(a) “Old and senile.”
(b) “Weathered and angry.”
(c) “Skinny and feeble.”
(d) “Big and strong.”

11. How old is the narrator’s sister in Part II?
(a) 13.
(b) 5.
(c) 10.
(d) 2.

12. Near what local coal company does the narrator say she sometimes goes in the evenings with grown-ups to fill burlap sacks with coal in Part II?
(a) Howard’s Coal Company.
(b) Zick’s Coal Company.
(c) Johnson's Coal Company.
(d) Murphy's Coal Company.

13. Of what dancer does Claudia say in Part II “was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me”?
(a) Fred Astaire.
(b) Bojangles.
(c) Louis Armstrong.
(d) Chuck E. White.

14. The author states in the book’s Foreword, “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was" what?
(a) “Something that could remind.”
(b) “Something one could do.”
(c) “Something to cherish.”
(d) “Something that could inspire.”

15. Whose image is on the milk cup that Frieda brings to Pecola in Part II?
(a) B.B. King's.
(b) Henry Ford's.
(c) Teddy Roosevelt’s.
(d) Shirley Temple’s.

Short Answer Questions

1. The girl who is described as the narrator’s “next-door friend who lives above her father’s café” in Part I is named Rosemary what?

2. What magic trick does Mr. Henry perform when he meets the narrator and her sister in Part II?

3. Who is the narrator of Part I?

4. Mrs. MacTeer exclaims during her diatribe in Part II, “I got about as much business with another mouth to feed as a cat has with” what?

5. What does the narrator say has become of Pecola’s father in Part I?

(see the answer keys)

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