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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 8: Part II--God’s Language, including the essays “The Source of Self-Regard” through “Invisible Ink: Reading the Writing and Writing the Reading”.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Invisible Ink," Morrison says that she deliberately introduces ambiguity into her novels for what purpose?
(a) As a thematic reminder that the world itself is ambiguous.
(b) To create suspense.
(c) As an emotional challenge to the reader.
(d) To make the reader participate in the construction of the novel.

2. What is one of the main subjects of Beloved?
(a) The difference between education and wisdom.
(b) Women's control over their own bodies.
(c) Friendships among women.
(d) The justice system.

3. In "The Site of Memory," what tactic does Morrison point out in slave narratives?
(a) Creating audience sympathy through obvious appeals to pathos.
(b) Appealing to audience by assuming the reader's nobility and morality.
(c) Challenging the audience with frequent, pointed rhetorical questions.
(d) Engaging the audience through vivid description of slavery's brutality.

4. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison uses examples of literary partings between Black and white women to demonstrate what?
(a) Male writers consistently miss what is most important in relationships between women.
(b) White writers are not able to convincingly portray Black women.
(c) Over time, the Black women in these pairings are portrayed as more fully realized human beings.
(d) Not much progress has been made in literary depictions of race relations.

5. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison says that she was told that the two responses to chaos are what?
(a) Critique and acceptance.
(b) Despair and hope.
(c) Naming and violence.
(d) Imagination and reshaping.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Race Matters," Morrison says that when she was younger she found something in writing that she could not find in life itself--what was it?

2. John Gardner's novel Grendel uses the original story as a source for what?

3. In "Goodbye to All That," what does Morrison say was her motive for insisting on being identified as a Black writer from the beginning?

4. In "Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison say is characteristic of Black art?

5. In "Race Matters," Morrison compares race to what?

(see the answer key)

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