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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.," what does Morrison say she wonders about MLK?
(a) Whether he would be disappointed in her.
(b) Where he found his courage.
(c) How he preserved his sense of hope.
(d) Whether he would be satisfied with the progress Americans have made.

2. Mass migration, according to Morrison, causes what to happen?
(a) Failure of the state.
(b) Fear of foreignness.
(c) Expansion of identity to include the "other."
(d) The surveillance state.

3. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison says that one of her aims is to do what?
(a) Criticize.
(b) Reassure.
(c) Remember.
(d) Provoke.

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

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

6. According to "Harlem on My Mind," why did the 1969 exhibit by the same name fail?
(a) Critics did not understand the cultural aesthetics the exhibit represented.
(b) The exhibit was too ambitious and tried to incorporate too many different kinds of art.
(c) New York was not ready for Black art in 1969, and attendance was very low.
(d) It contained racist materials and did not include much art by African American artists.

7. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison says that we must use freedom to do what?
(a) Educate ourselves.
(b) Overthrow corrupt institutions.
(c) Create art.
(d) Free others.

8. In "Literature and Public Life," Morrison says that we live in the age of what?
(a) Conscience.
(b) Inquiry.
(c) Resignation.
(d) Spectacle.

9. In "The Future of Time," Morrison worries that we increasingly turn to the past for what?
(a) Philosophical wisdom.
(b) Evidence to confirm our biases.
(c) Visions of what our future could be.
(d) Answers to current problems.

10. What does Morrison praise the National Endowment for the Arts for in "The Individual Artist"?
(a) Taking risks on individual artists.
(b) Funding art that everyone agrees is worthwhile.
(c) Avoiding controversy.
(d) Encouraging patriotism in the arts.

11. In "The Price of Wealth, the Cost of Care," Morrison compares money to what?
(a) An art critic.
(b) Television.
(c) Slavery.
(d) A mistress.

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

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

14. 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) A lack of funding.
(b) Governmental interference.
(c) Oppressive language.
(d) Exclusion of Black scholars.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Morrison claims that after WWII, the language used to discuss war became more what?

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

3. What form of literature does Morrison discuss at length in "Black Matter(s)"?

4. In "The Future of Time," Morrison points to what two forces as responsible for our modern relationship to the future?

5. Based on your reading of "Arts Advocacy," which statement would Morrison agree with?

(see the answer keys)

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