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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 James say the preacher at church dots his sermons with?

2. What does Ruth say she was starved of?

3. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?

4. What city does Sam leave for?

5. What country was James' mother born in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Jame McBride's family life.

2. How did Ruth and her family live in America when they first arrived?

3. How does the 1960s black power affect James in Chapter 3?

4. How does Ruth's life take a turn for the worse when the family moves to Virginia?

5. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?

6. Describe the character of Daddy.

7. Describe the household James was brought up in.

8. Why does James hit the boy he meets on the bus?

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

10. How does Peter change Ruth's life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do the students think it is important for James to find out about his mother's past? How has his mother hiding her past affected him?

Essay Topic 2

Compare McBride's character to his mother's character. What are their similarities and differences? What did James learn from his mother? How did James' mother's situation and personality motivate her?

Essay Topic 3

Examine McBride's writing style. How would you describe his prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? Does he use any specific writing techniques? What meaning does McBride's style give to his story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample