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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In "The Habit of Art," Morrison tells the anecdote about Antigone in Haiti to illustrate what point?
(a) Ancient Greek works are still relevant today.
(b) Art has real-world power.
(c) Dictators try to crush artistic expression.
(d) Acting in a play is therapeutic.

3. Where did Morrison go to school as a child?
(a) In public schools in Florida that were suddenly segregated while she was a student.
(b) In desegregated private schools throughout America.
(c) In public schools in Ohio that had never been segregated.
(d) In segregated private schools in New York.

4. In the story that opens "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," what do the children ask the old woman about?
(a) Death.
(b) A bird.
(c) A baby.
(d) Love.

5. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison says that we can understand something important about literary "whiteness" by studying what?
(a) History.
(b) Literary Blackness.
(c) Changes to the canon over time.
(d) Black writers.

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

7. In "The In "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," Morrison speculates about how much more knowledge we would have if scholarship was not held back by what?
(a) Governmental interference.
(b) A lack of funding.
(c) Oppressive language.
(d) Exclusion of Black scholars.

8. The Radiance of the King is a novel by Camara Laye, an author of what origin?
(a) European.
(b) North American.
(c) African.
(d) Asian.

9. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison says that the public interest has been redefined as what?
(a) Class warfare.
(b) Extremism.
(c) Special interests.
(d) Private interest.

10. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison retells the story of William Dunbar as an example of what?
(a) A prototypical American white male.
(b) A victim of state violence.
(c) A critic who understands the significance of Black art.
(d) A slave who struggled to make his voice heard.

11. In "The Habit of Art," Morrison praises the artist Toby Lewis for what?
(a) Taking on the perspective of the "other."
(b) Disrupting the status quo with her provocative work.
(c) Placing art in public workplaces.
(d) Creating great religious art.

12. "The War on Error" is a speech given to what group?
(a) Amnesty International.
(b) ArtTable.
(c) The Newspaper Association of America.
(d) Sarah Lawrence College.

13. In "Race Matters," Morrison compares race to what?
(a) A map.
(b) A ladder.
(c) A jailer.
(d) A set of clothing.

14. In "Literature and Public Life," what does Morrison say shapes our understanding of community?
(a) Literature from the canon.
(b) The media, especially television.
(c) Government propaganda.
(d) Literature from outside the canon.

15. Where does Morrison say we erroneously turn for answers to contemporary social problems?
(a) Literature.
(b) The past.
(c) Science.
(d) Religion.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Morrison say is a key reason for Western projections onto Africa?

2. In "The Future of Time," what does Morrison say it seems like "the future" means to people today?

3. In "Women, Race, and Memory," Morrison uses the phrase "internecine conflict." In context, this phrase means what?

4. According to Morrison, globalism creates a fear of what?

5. According to Morrison, identifying the race of a subject can have what unintended consequence?

(see the answer keys)

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