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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How old is Sammy when he lives by the pizza parlor in the narrator’s description from Part II?
(a) 7.
(b) 14.
(c) 6.
(d) 11.

3. Who is described as “still trotting up and down Sixteenth Street talking to herself” in Part II?
(a) Baby Jenny.
(b) Auntie Julia.
(c) Miss Forrester.
(d) Miss Bertha.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. The author states in the Foreword that her concept of breaking the narrative of the novel into parts "didn't work" because many readers "remain touched but not" what?

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

3. How old is the narrator’s sister in Part II?

4. In what year does the author say in the Foreword that she began the “story” that would eventually lead to The Bluest Eye?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does the Breedlove family stay in the apartment, according to the narrator in “Here is the House…”?

2. According to some critics, the three versions of the reader presented on the first page of The Bluest Eye represent three lifestyles presented in the novel. What does the first version represent?

3. How is the MacTeer home described in “Autumn”? How are the relationships between the children and the adults characterized?

4. What does the narrator discuss regarding property-owning black families and their motivations in “Autumn”?

5. How is Mr. Henry described in “Autumn”? What is his role in the MacTeer home?

6. What is the primary setting for the novel? How is the author connected to this setting?

7. How are Claudia’s feelings about Shirley Temple and about baby dolls illustrated in “Autumn”?

8. Who takes control of the situation when Pecola suddenly begins menstruating in Part II? How?

9. What foreshadowing is revealed by the narrator in the end of Part I?

10. Describe the “Dick and Jane” reader presented in Part I. How does this excerpt change in each retelling?

(see the answer keys)

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