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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Logos.
(b) Figurative language.
(c) Ethos.
(d) Allusion.

2. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison says that when you hate you become what?
(a) A slave.
(b) A victim.
(c) A monster.
(d) An addict.

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

4. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison points out that in the original Grimm's version, the stepsisters were what?
(a) The instigators of Cinderella's torment.
(b) Desperate for their mother's love.
(c) Oppressed just like Cinderella.
(d) Beautiful, powerful women.

5. In "Moral Inhabitants," what is the list of American leaders meant to demonstrate?
(a) History only shows us one side of these leaders.
(b) Great leaders are "ahead of their time."
(c) Great leaders are born, not made.
(d) Slavery was a violent and degrading institution.

6. What is one of the consequences that Morrison blames on minstrelsy?
(a) Class warfare.
(b) The centering of African American culture.
(c) Racism.
(d) The debasement of language.

7. In "Women, Race, and Memory," Morrison divides women into three groups: feminists, anti-feminists, and whom?
(a) Libertarians.
(b) Integrationists.
(c) Radical socialists.
(d) Nonaligned humanists.

8. In "A Race in Mind," Morrison asks for more thoughtful work from what group?
(a) The press.
(b) Art critics.
(c) Authors.
(d) Government.

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

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

11. 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?
(a) Sovereignty.
(b) Immortality.
(c) Justice.
(d) Love.

12. 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.

13. According to "Harlem on My Mind," the term "postblack" refers to whom?
(a) Black artists who want their art to be evaluated by aesthetic standards only--not classified according to their race.
(b) Critics who make race the key factor in their analysis of works of art.
(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.

14. In the story that opens "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," where does the old woman say the answer to the children's question is?
(a) She doesn't actually answer their question.
(b) In their hands.
(c) In her eyes.
(d) In their hearts.

15. In "The Price of Wealth, the Cost of Care," what does Morrison blame for diminishing our desire to care for others in modern times?
(a) The rise of fascism in Western democracies.
(b) The rise of non-governmental organizations.
(c) Widespread poverty in our own country.
(d) Our fear of the movement of people across borders.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is a key characteristic of globalism, according to Morrison?

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

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

4. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison's central claim is that women should not do what?

5. "The War Against Error" is a fifteenth and sixteenth century effort to eliminate what kind of error?

(see the answer keys)

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