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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. To whom does Morrison address her remarks about the dead of September 11, 2001?
(a) To the dead themselves.
(b) To all Americans.
(c) To the families of the dead.
(d) To the terrorists responsible for the deaths.

2. In "Hard, True, and Lasting," Morrison says that what feeling is the first one writers feel when they begin to write?
(a) Separateness.
(b) Independence.
(c) Gratitude.
(d) Love.

3. In "Black Matter(s)," what aspect of American slavery does Morrison claim makes its impact so long-lasting in American culture?
(a) The skin color of the slaves.
(b) The religion of slave-owners.
(c) The breakup of slave families.
(d) Laws against teaching slaves to read and write.

4. In "God's Language," Morrison says that she does not keep a writer's notebook because of what?
(a) Her novels serve the same purpose as a writer's notebook.
(b) She is afraid that people would want to read it.
(c) Her process does not work with a writer's notebook.
(d) She thinks writer's notebooks are an excuse to avoid actual writing.

5. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison speculates that slaves offered white Americans a sense of what?
(a) Power and authority they had been denied in Europe.
(b) Permissiveness and freedom lacking in the Europe of that time.
(c) Being monitored by their social inferiors.
(d) Religious duty to the oppressed.

Short Answer Questions

1. "The War on Error" is a speech given to what group?

2. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison says that the public interest has been redefined as what?

3. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison remarks on the absence of what in slave narratives?

4. In "Women, Race, and Memory," Morrison divides women into three groups: feminists, anti-feminists, and whom?

5. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison says that a key "absence" in writing about racism is the omission of its impact on whom?

(see the answer key)

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