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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. What does Ruth say she was starved of?

2. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?

3. Where was James' mother supposed to meet James after kindergarten?

4. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?

5. What kind of people do James and friends mug?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does James react to Hunter's death?

2. Describe Jame McBride's family life.

3. How does Ruth's friend, Frances, support her?

4. Describe Ruth's father's work.

5. Describe the character of Daddy.

6. What happens to James when his mother forgets to pick him up from kindergarten?

7. In what way was church always a joyous affair for both James and his mother?

8. Describe Sam's life.

9. Why did James think his mother was strange?

10. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What major events had a profound affect on McBride's life and how did they change him?

Essay Topic 2

What insight does James give about the Great Depression in the Thirties? How does Ruth's parents cope with the Great Depression? In what way does the Great Depression destroy, or almost destroy, the lives of people close to Ruth? What did American society learn from the Great Depression in the Thirties?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss differences between the novel and autobiography formats. What are the main elements of a novel? What are the main elements of an autobiography? What can novelists express that an autobiographer cannot? How can autobiographies keep to the facts while still maintaining a level of entertainment?

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