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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. Pauline Williams was one of how many children in her family?

2. Which of the prostitutes in Part III is described as “thin, aging, absentminded, and unaggressive”?

3. With what boy does Geraldine’s son play with, according to the narrator in Part III?

4. According to Frieda in Part III, Mrs. Cain told her mother that Woodward did what?

5. Who came and said that Frieda’s father was going to jail, causing Frieda to punch her in Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Pauline Breedlove’s feelings about motherhood, according to the narrator in “See Mother…”?

2. How is Cholly Breedlove’s childhood described in “See Father…”? Who raised Cholly?

3. What exchange takes place between Maginot Line and Claudia and Frieda in “Spring”?

4. How does the fresh cobbler come to be spilled in “Spring”? Who spills it?

5. What does Mr. Henry tell Claudia and Frieda about his unexpected guests in Part III? What do the girls do?

6. Who do Claudia and Frieda encounter leaving their house when they return from Miss Bertha’s store in Part III?

7. How is Geraldine’s family described in “See the Cat…”? Upon what does Geraldine focus her affection?

8. What misunderstanding at the ice cream parlor contributes to the growing tension between Claudia and Maureen in “Winter”?

9. How does Mrs. Breedlove respond when she finds the spilled cobbler in “Spring”?

10. What leads to Claudia and Frieda buying snacks at Miss Bertha’s in Part III?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss racial discrimination within black communities in the United States. How and why, in the novel, is Maureen Peal depicted as being of a higher stature because of the lighter color of her skin tone? What discrimination does Maureen face in her community and in the white community?

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 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?

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