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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Grendel and His Mother," Morrison notes the significance of what characteristic of Grendel's mother?
(a) Her intelligence.
(b) Her lack of speech.
(c) Her size.
(d) Her capacity for forgiveness.

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

3. In "The Source of Self-Regard," Morrison writes about not wanting to turn her readers into voyeurs. In this context, the word "voyeur" should be defined how?
(a) Someone afraid of encountering what is new or different.
(b) Someone who is more confident in their own knowledge than they should be.
(c) Someone who gets pleasure from watching something that is private or painful for others.
(d) Someone whose passion outweighs their judgment.

4. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," what element does Morrison say is an aspect of the European American response to chaos lacking in the indigenous response?
(a) Pragmatism.
(b) Meditation.
(c) Disrespect.
(d) Wonder.

5. In "Invisible Ink," what word does Morrison object to when it is applied to reading?
(a) Participation.
(b) Pleasure.
(c) Challenge.
(d) Art.

6. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison proposes to show how memoir is similar to and different from what?
(a) Literary criticism.
(b) Fiction.
(c) History.
(d) Poetry.

7. In "Grendel and His Mother," what claim does Morrison make for Beowulf?
(a) It is an artifact of an irrelevant time.
(b) It equals our modern knowledge of reality.
(c) It functions as a mirror for our own time.
(d) It exposes how values have shifted in Western culture.

8. In "Faulkner and Women," whom does Morrison say she imagines when as a reader when she is writing?
(a) Literary critics.
(b) Herself.
(c) African Americans.
(d) Everyone.

9. In "Tribute to Romare Bearden," Morrison says that there was once a false division of art into what two categories?
(a) Political and beautiful.
(b) Authentic and corrective.
(c) Representative and uplifting.
(d) Universal and transcendent.

10. In her "James Baldwin Eulogy," Morrison makes an allusion to what Biblical story?
(a) The visit of the Three Wise Men to the Christ child.
(b) David and Goliath.
(c) Leviathan.
(d) The destruction of Solomon's temple.

11. Why is "panoply" a clever piece of diction as used in "Unspeakable Things Unspoken"?
(a) It is part of the alliteration that creates rhythm in the passage.
(b) It is another pun, echoing the essay's opening.
(c) It has a secondary meaning that has to do with arms and armor.
(d) It has negative connotations that support the irony in the essay's tone.

12. In "Grendel and His Mother," Morrison notes that Beowulf is a part of Western literature's characterization of evil as what?
(a) Pervasive.
(b) Feminine.
(c) A philosophical construct.
(d) A product of environment.

13. In "The Writer Before the Page," what does Morrison say she avoids in her writing?
(a) Symbolism.
(b) Figurative language.
(c) Literary allusions.
(d) Musical language.

14. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison posits that the "Lone" Ranger is "lone" because of what?
(a) His race.
(b) Hiding his face behind a mask.
(c) The presence of Tonto.
(d) His gender.

15. In "The Trouble with Paradise," Morrison says she knows how whiteness "matures and ascends the throne of universalism." What is the best descriptor of this phrase?
(a) Morrison uses sibilance to suggest that whiteness is demonic.
(b) Morrison personifies whiteness in order to attribute dark motives to its actions.
(c) Morrison uses royal imagery to establish the legitimacy of white universalism.
(d) Morrison metaphorically compares whiteness to a royal leader and universalism to a kingdom.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Academic Whispers," Morrison compares African American literature to what?

2. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison opens with an anecdote about asking an interviewer to omit all questions about what?

3. What is the purpose of the Edvard Munch quote in "Memory, Creation, and Fiction"?

4. Who is Margaret Garner?

5. In "The Source of Self-Regard," which two of her works does Morrison chiefly discuss?

(see the answer keys)

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