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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Harriet worried about the dangers involved in fighting for civil rights, she always returned to her belief in what as "a fundamental virtue" (33)?
(a) Family bonds.
(b) Respect.
(c) Hard work.
(d) Education.

2. On the last day of school, Mr. Hill gave Elwood a book by which black writer?
(a) James Baldwin.
(b) Langston Hughes.
(c) Zora Neale Hurston.
(d) Lucille Clifton.

3. For how many nights was Elwood permitted to sleep in his own home between his sentencing and his departure for Nickel?
(a) 14.
(b) 2.
(c) 3.
(d) 7.

4. Boys punished within the White House were ordered to lie down on a blood-stained mattress and to hold onto what object?
(a) A chain.
(b) A rope.
(c) A timer.
(d) A rail.

5. Which character was NOT a part of the group of the three most fearsome boys at Nickel?
(a) Black Mike.
(b) Lonnie.
(c) Desmond.
(d) Griff.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Harriet found out about Elwood's participation in a protest, in what way did she punish him?

2. Which two classes did Elwood miss on his very first day of educational instruction at Nickel?

3. Before the college students found the "secret graveyard" (3) how many bodies in total had they counted within the Nickel Academy's official cemetery?

4. How many feet long was the leather strap called Black Beauty" (67)?

5. In what month did Elwood arrive at Nickel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Mr. Hill?

2. What does the industrial fan within Chapter 6 symbolize and with what theme does Whitehead connect the fan?

3. In what way does Whitehead intertwine the motif of dreams with the theme of escape within Chapter 7?

4. Who was Elwood and what event prompted him to need to return to Nickel?

5. How does Whitehead use personification to depict the way that Harriet tried not to get her hopes up about the progress the black community might make in the wake of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision?

6. In what way did the grounds of Nickel surprise Elwood upon his arrival and what is this detail's significance?

7. What major discovery is described in the Prologue as having led to widespread media coverage focused on the Nickel Academy?

8. Which two momentous events happened on Elwood's second day at Nickel, as announced at the start of Chapter 5?

9. How did Elwood turn the nasty trick played by the Richmond Hotel staff into a boon?

10. For what reason was Elwood unable to get a full night's sleep the day of his arrival at Nickel?

(see the answer keys)

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