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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. 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?

4. 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?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How is the apartment of the Breedlove family described in “Here is the House…”?

5. What do Claudia and Frieda receive at the beginning of the school year in “Autumn”? What conversation consumes “the grownups” in the opening of this chapter?

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

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

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 first version represent?

9. What does Pecola pray for every night, according to the narrator in “Here is the Family…”? Why?

10. Why does Pecola Breedlove come to live with the MacTeers in “Autumn”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the character of Pecola in The Bluest Eye. Is Pecola the protagonist of the novel, or is the protagonist Claudia? Why do you believe this? How does Pecola’s character evolve from the beginning of the story to the end? How does her evolution affect Claudia and Frieda?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of “the other” in The Bluest Eye. How is Pecola a metaphorical representation of “the other”? How is her outsider status important to the novel’s narrator? Why do Frieda and Claudia attempt to make Pecola feel less like an outsider?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the major movie stars discussed in the narrative in Part II. When was Shirley Temple’s height of fame? What other actresses are discussed? What do they share in common? How is Pecola’s name related to the movies?

(see the answer keys)

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