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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. The author states in the novel's Foreword, "There can't be anyone, I am sure, who doesn't know what it feels like to be" what "momentarily or for sustained periods of time"?
(a) “Villain-ized or victimized.”
(b) “Disembodied and alienated.”
(c) “Disliked, even rejected.”
(d) “Victimized, or traumatized.”

2. What magic trick does Mr. Henry perform when he meets the narrator and her sister in Part II?
(a) He pulls a rabbit from a hat.
(b) He makes a penny disappear.
(c) He saws a lady in half.
(d) He makes his thumb disappear.

3. In the book’s Foreword, the author writes that the book arose from a conversation she had with a childhood friend who wished that she had what?
(a) Blue eyes.
(b) Freckles.
(c) Green eyes.
(d) Blond hair.

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) Dick.
(c) James.
(d) Bill.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How old does the narrator say she is in Part II?

2. What does Claudia recall doing with her baby dolls as a child in Part II?

3. Where is the abandoned store that is described in Part II as “on the southeast corner of Broadway and Thirty-fifth Street”?

4. What does Jane’s mother do when Jane asks her to play in the story from Part I?

5. Who owns the grocery store down the street from Pecola in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Is the setting of the novel focused on a specific societal group, or is the setting inclusive of different racial groups?

3. 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 second version represent?

4. What commotion begins when Rosemary “tattles” on Claudia, Frieda, and Pecola for “being nasty” in “Autumn”?

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

6. Who can be seen in Part I as characters that face trouble assimilating into “white society’s standards of beauty”?

7. How does the narrator compare the state of being “put out” with being “outdoors” in “Autumn”?

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

9. 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 third version represent?

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

(see the answer keys)

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