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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 7: Part II--God’s Language, including the essays “The Trouble with Paradise” through “Faulkner and Woman”.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Morrison say is a key reason for Western projections onto Africa?
(a) Western ignorance about Africa.
(b) Missionaries' quest to Christianize Africa.
(c) The persecution of indigenous Africans.
(d) Africa's poverty.

3. According to "Harlem on My Mind," the term "postblack" refers to whom?
(a) Black artists who distance themselves from Blackness by identifying with white culture.
(b) Critics who refuse to evaluate Black art according to the aesthetics of the Black community.
(c) Critics who make race the key factor in their analysis of works of art.
(d) Black artists who want their art to be evaluated by aesthetic standards only--not classified according to their race.

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

5. In "Chinua Achebe," Morrison says that she learned what from Achebe?
(a) How to focus her writing on her own truth instead of on nonwhite audiences' expectations.
(b) How to properly structure a narrative.
(c) The meaning of aspects of African culture that had frustrated and puzzled her.
(d) The importance of the Africanistic presence in American literature.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison says that we live in the age of what?

2. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison points out that in the original Grimm's version, the stepsisters were what?

3. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison opens by joking that because she was once a student at the place she is now speaking, what might happen after her speech?

4. In "On Beloved," Morrison says that what field of study drew her to the subject matter of Beloved?

5. What does Morrison praise the National Endowment for the Arts for in "The Individual Artist"?

(see the answer key)

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