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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. Which of the following poet’s works does Pat recite to Ailey?

2. To whom of the following is Precious compared?

3. With which of the following does Song (4) begin?

4. Which of the following colleges does Lydia note Dante attends?

5. What kind of car do Baybay and Boukie drive?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason do the women of Belle’s hometown not blame men for adultery?

2. On what is Ailey’s college savings spent, rather than her own collegiate study?

3. Throughout the book, a number of women use botanical contraceptives. What are those discussed earliest in the novel?

4. How does Root meet his wife?

5. What prompts Ailey to reconcile with Chris Tate instead of with David James?

6. Why does Ailey note she lost her desire for school in high school?

7. Why does Ailey dislike spending summers in the City?

8. What causes the death of Root’s mother?

9. Why does Root appreciate Founder’s Day?

10. Why do Diane and her husband separate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What effect on the reader does the paired narratives—that of the Songs and that of the main narrative—have? How does the text create that effect?

Essay Topic 2

Which character is the second most important in the text? How does the work support such an assertion?

Essay Topic 3

Sources attest to the presence of The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois on bestseller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

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