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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison notes that she almost titled the essay something else--what?
(a) Cannon Father.
(b) Cannon Fodder.
(c) Canon Fodder.
(d) Canon Father.

2. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison brings up Bernal's two models of Greek history in order to illustrate what point?
(a) Ancient Greece's contributions to Western culture are not as significant as many claim.
(b) Western Civilization's European foundation story rests on dubious scholarship.
(c) The European model of Ancient Greece is the basis of Christianity's appropriation of Israel.
(d) The Phoenicians are wrongly viewed as culturally close to ancient Jewish civilization.

3. In "God's Language," Morrison says that she does not keep a writer's notebook because of what?
(a) Her process does not work with a writer's notebook.
(b) She thinks writer's notebooks are an excuse to avoid actual writing.
(c) She is afraid that people would want to read it.
(d) Her novels serve the same purpose as a writer's notebook.

4. In "The Source of Self-Regard," Morrison recounts being asked how to teach one of her books when what was true?
(a) When students struggle to understand her language.
(b) When the teacher is white.
(c) When parents oppose the reading of her book.
(d) When there were no CliffsNotes.

5. 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.

6. In "Introduction to Peter Sellars," Morrison praises his work for being what?
(a) Critical of racial hierarchies.
(b) Both accessible and challenging.
(c) Both feminist and scholarly.
(d) Aware of the boundaries between Self and Other.

7. "The Trouble with Paradise" is mostly about what?
(a) Characterization difficulties Morrison had while writing Paradise.
(b) The plot of Morrison's novel Paradise.
(c) The difference between older and more modern ideas of paradise.
(d) The language needed to describe paradise.

8. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison credits what group with beginning to open up the canon?
(a) Feminist scholars.
(b) Immigrants.
(c) The American academy.
(d) Black writers.

9. Who is Hannah Peace?
(a) A literary scholar.
(b) A character in Beloved.
(c) A Black writer that Morrison admires.
(d) The inspiration for Sula.

10. 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) Imagination and reshaping.
(d) Naming and violence.

11. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison calls the "merging of forms" one of the key aspects of what literary movement?
(a) Modernism.
(b) Romanticism.
(c) The Harlem Renaissance.
(d) Postmodernism.

12. In "Tribute to Romare Bearden," Morrison focuses her attention on the relationship between what and Bearden's art?
(a) Music.
(b) Her own writing.
(c) History.
(d) Black nationalism.

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

14. In "The Trouble with Paradise," Morrison claims that in the modern world, what has become "trivial"?
(a) Paradise.
(b) Religion.
(c) Morailty.
(d) Justice.

15. In "Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison proposes that the third response to chaos is what?
(a) Stillness.
(b) Laughter.
(c) Hierarchy.
(d) Genocide.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison remarks on the absence of what in slave narratives?

3. In "The Writer Before the Page," Morrison explains what about the structure of her novels?

4. In "Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison call the character of Sula?

5. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison remarks upon what tone common in slave narratives?

(see the answer keys)

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