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

2. The author states in the Foreword, “In trying to dramatize the devastation that even casual racial contempt can cause I chose a unique situation, not" what?
(a) “A realistic one.”
(b) “An imaginative one.”
(c) “A classic one.”
(d) “A representative one.”

3. The narrator in Part II describes the adults as treating illness in children with what?
(a) Empathy.
(b) Mercy.
(c) Contempt.
(d) Sympathy.

4. According to Toni Morrison in the book’s Foreword, “The extremity of Pecola's case stemmed largely from" what?
(a) “A series of bad choices.”
(b) “Societal pressures.”
(c) “A crippled and crippling family.”
(d) “The poorest of luck.”

5. 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) “Disliked, even rejected.”
(b) “Disembodied and alienated.”
(c) “Victimized, or traumatized.”
(d) “Villain-ized or victimized.”

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of Pecola’s brother in the novel?

2. 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?

3. How old is Pecola when she lives by the pizza parlor in the narrator’s description in Part II?

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

5. Who arrives to play with Jane at the end of the story in Part I?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. What important symbolic images are presented in the opening “Dick and Jane” reader and the preface in Part I?

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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