View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. With which of the following does Song (7) begin?

2. With which of the following does the main text of the novel conclude?

3. From which tribe does Holcomb hail?

4. Which of the following does Whitcomb note is his favorite abolitionist?

5. What is the name of Dante’s mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What advice does Oludara offer Ailey about selecting an advisor for her doctoral program?

2. What is the last thing Lydia sees before dying?

3. To what labor is Gideon put after being transported to what would become Georgia?

4. For what reason is Lonny Maxwell dismissed from teaching?

5. How does Claudius earn the money he uses to secure his freedom?

6. How does Rebecca regard Ailey’s presence in their common graduate program?

7. Why does Whitcomb chide Ailey for her use of “we” in class?

8. What occasions the death of Samuel’s father?

9. How is Ailey enrolled as Oludara’s research assistant?

10. How does Ailey address Rebecca’s questions about the Pinchard descent of her own family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How reliable is the primary narrator of the novel? What in the text indicates that reliability, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

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 Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois bear as much out?

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 620 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample