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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. How does the novel gloss the term “chamalyah”?

2. To which of the following is the novel dedicated?

3. Which of the following was Moshe’s theatre?

4. The dedication of the novel notes which of the following?

5. What instrument did Chulo Davis play?

Short Essay Questions

1. What event precipitates Bernice leaving school?

2. What story about his family does Moshe tell to keep his audience amused as they await a show?

3. Why does Malachi maintain Black Americans have an advantage?

4. Why is Paper thought to be illiterate?

5. How do the people of Chicken Hill regard the devastation of Hurricane Agnes?

6. Why does Chona have standing among the local Jewish community?

7. Why does Paper not work as a maid?

8. To what does Chona ascribe her and Moshe’s commercial success?

9. Why, per Moshe, is marriage complicated for new Jewish immigrants to America?

10. How do local officials respond to Moshe integrating his theatre?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What attitude towards the supernatural does the novel betray? How does it convey that attitude?

Essay Topic 2

To what genre other than historical fiction might The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store bear as much out?

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