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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. In "Black Matter(s)," what does Morrison say she means by "American Africanism"?
(a) A white-American construct that defines "American" against a fabrication of Blackness.
(b) The historic systemic oppression of Black Americans.
(c) A claim for expansion of the literary canon to incorporate Black writers.
(d) A Black literary movement that centers Africanness.

2. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison says that a large part of her "literary heritage" is what?
(a) Autobiography.
(b) Fiction.
(c) Poetry.
(d) The Western canon.

3. In "The Slavebody and the Blackbody," when Morrison suggests that writing about slavery cuts away at the scar tissue the blackbody uses to hide the slavebody, what technique is she using?
(a) Figurative language.
(b) Allusion.
(c) Ethos.
(d) Logos.

4. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison's central claim is that women should not do what?
(a) Undermine feminism by being too nurturing.
(b) Participate in corrupt institutions.
(c) Oppress other women.
(d) Risk the gains women have made by trying to move forward too quickly.

5. What question does Morrison say is at the center of of government?
(a) Distribution of wealth.
(b) Control over history's narrative.
(c) Creating peace and security.
(d) Cultural apartheid or integration.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison says that slave narratives had two purposes: one was to record the life of an individual human being, and the other was what?

2. According to "Harlem on My Mind," the term "postblack" refers to whom?

3. In "Moral Inhabitants," Morrison says that the ability to make fine distinctions shows what?

4. In "Literature and Public Life," what does Morrison say shapes our understanding of community?

5. In "Women, Race, and Memory," Morrison relates an anecdote about which historical figure?

(see the answer key)

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