View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. 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?

3. The author states in the book’s Foreword, “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was" what?

4. Where is “that trifling Peggy” said to be from in Part II?

5. According to the narrator in Part II, who “spent all their energies, all their love, on their nests”?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 second version represent?

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 first version represent?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Claudia and Frieda’s feelings about Rosemary, their next-door neighbor. What does Rosemary say to get Claudia and Frieda in trouble with Mrs. MacTeer when they are helping Pecola? Why does she do this? How is Rosemary described by the narrator?

Essay Topic 2

What adjectives and descriptive words are used in “See the Cat…” to describe the “types of girls” who come to Lorain from places like Mobile, Marietta, etc.? How do these girls differ from the “black girls” that Claudia and Frieda consider themselves? Do you think that the narrator views the girls as better than them, or simply as perceived as better?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the feelings of guilt and shame that Frieda experiences after her encounter with Mr. Henry. Do you think that Frieda’s parents, friends, or other adults could have made it easier for Frieda by telling her that it wasn’t her fault? Why do you believe the adults did not do this?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 978 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample