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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 is Mr. Henry’s last name?
(a) Dunion.
(b) Washington.
(c) Yacobowski.
(d) Whitcomb.

2. 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.

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

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

5. On what street had Mr. Henry been living before taking a room from the MacTeer family?
(a) Fifth Street.
(b) Eighth Street.
(c) Second Street.
(d) Thirteenth Street.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. The author describes "seeing oneself preserved in the amber of" what, in the novel's Foreword?

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

4. In speaking of Pecola’s father in Part I, the narrator says, “Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his” what?

5. In the story of Jane from Part I, Jane’s family lives in a house that is what colors?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. How did author Toni Morrison perceive the Civil Rights Movement’s slogan “Black is Beautiful”? How is this seen in the novel?

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

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

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

6. Describe the narrative style of the novel. Who narrates the opening passages before “Autumn”?

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

8. 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?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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