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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what year does the author say The Bluest Eye began to take the form of a book in the Foreword?
(a) 1965.
(b) 1958.
(c) 1969.
(d) 1954.

2. Who arrives to play with Jane at the end of the story in Part I?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her father.
(c) A friend.
(d) Her brother.

3. Part I of the novel begins with a story about a girl named Jane and her brother, who is named what?
(a) Bill.
(b) John.
(c) Dick.
(d) James.

4. Where is “that trifling Peggy” said to be from in Part II?
(a) Elyria.
(b) Cleveland.
(c) Meridian.
(d) Lorain.

5. What does Pecola’s mother demand that Pecola’s father get out of bed and go get for her in their argument in Part II?
(a) Milk.
(b) Eggs.
(c) Coal.
(d) Flour.

6. What does Claudia recall doing with her baby dolls as a child in Part II?
(a) Playing house with them.
(b) Dismembering them.
(c) Playing dress-up with them.
(d) Adoring them.

7. 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 unjustified.
(b) That the hatred is not accurate.
(c) That the hatred is accurate.
(d) That the hatred is justified.

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) “Inevitable.”
(c) “Honorable.”
(d) “Beautiful.”

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) “Criminal behavior.”
(c) “Lust or despair.”
(d) “Evil and sadness.”

10. 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) Johnson's Coal Company.
(b) Howard’s Coal Company.
(c) Murphy's Coal Company.
(d) Zick’s Coal Company.

11. What does Jane’s mother do when Jane asks her to play in the story from Part I?
(a) She screams.
(b) She laughs.
(c) She runs off.
(d) She cries.

12. What actress does Claudia claim to like, causing her sister and Pecola to give her a puzzled look and consider her incomprehensible, in Part II?
(a) Marylin Monroe.
(b) Katherine Hepburn.
(c) Jane Withers.
(d) Audrey Hepburn.

13. In what year does the author say in the Foreword that she began the “story” that would eventually lead to The Bluest Eye?
(a) 1944.
(b) 1938.
(c) 1957.
(d) 1962.

14. The narrator in Part I claims that “one must take refuge in” what?
(a) “Why.”
(b) “How.”
(c) “What.”
(d) “When.”

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In Part II, the narrator says that “drunken men with sober eyes sing in the lobby” of what hotel?

2. Who is the narrator of Part I?

3. Where is Pecola’s father when she goes to stay with the MacTeer family in Part II?

4. What is Mr. Henry’s last name?

5. What does Toni Morrison refer to as the most “vulnerable member” of society in the novel’s Foreword?

(see the answer keys)

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