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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 6: Part II--God’s Language, including the essays “James Baldwin Eulogy” through “The Writer Before the Page”.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that she sees a reflection of African-American cultural traditions in what form of literature?
(a) Early European novels.
(b) Epic poetry.
(c) Oral narratives.
(d) Greek tragedy.

2. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison defines "dreaming" as what?
(a) An impractical luxury we cannot afford in modern times.
(b) Wasted time engaged in wishful thinking.
(c) A meditative state that improves the creative capacity of the Self.
(d) Deliberate imagining that creates intimacy with the Other.

3. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison compares the restriction of the canon by traditional Western standards to what?
(a) A glass house.
(b) A lobotomy.
(c) A corset.
(d) A jail cell.

4. In "The Future of Time," Morrison uses repetition of what phrase?
(a) "What will we think during those longer, healthier lives?"
(b) "The future is already catastrophe."
(c) "We are being bullied into understanding."
(d) "Art is temporal."

5. What form of literature does Morrison discuss at length in "Black Matter(s)"?
(a) Literary memoirs.
(b) Art criticism.
(c) Slave narratives.
(d) Religious sermons.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Grendel and His Mother," Morrison notes that Beowulf is a part of Western literature's characterization of evil as what?

2. In "The Individual Artist," why does Morrison say that the romantic vision of the artist is a "Procrustean bed"?

3. In "The Site of Memory," what tactic does Morrison point out in slave narratives?

4. In "The Habit of Art," Morrison tells the anecdote about Antigone in Haiti to illustrate what point?

5. In her "James Baldwin Eulogy," Morrison makes an allusion to what Biblical story?

(see the answer key)

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