View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In "The Writer Before the Page," Morrison says that she wants to do what with her writing?
(a) Engage the reader in a participatory relationship.
(b) Tell a fictionalized account of her own life story.
(c) Challenge critics to accept a blurring between memoir and fiction.
(d) Question the foundations of the Western canon.

3. In "Goodbye to All That," to what other group's struggle does Morrison compare the struggle of Black writers to claim territory that is both identity-specific and identity-neutral?
(a) Muslims.
(b) Women.
(c) Immigrants.
(d) The poor.

4. In "Invisible Ink," Morrison says that she would like to read a book where what is left ambiguous?
(a) The narrator's gender.
(b) The meaning of symbolism.
(c) The conclusion.
(d) The setting.

5. In "Rememory," what does Morrison say causes her to rely on memory rather than history?
(a) History isn't relevant to the topics she writes about.
(b) History is a biased record.
(c) History is oriented toward the "male gaze."
(d) History is dull and lifeless.

6. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison says that slave narratives had two purposes: one was to record the life of an individual human being, and the other was what?
(a) To advance the cause of abolition.
(b) To condemn their former masters.
(c) To rebut narratives by plantation owners.
(d) To contribute to the historical record.

7. In "The Trouble with Paradise," Morrison says that writers must hold "an unblinking gaze into the realm of" what?
(a) Death.
(b) Sorrow.
(c) Inequality.
(d) Difference.

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

9. In "Tribute to Romare Bearden," Morrison notes what about African American visual art?
(a) It has been criticized more rigorously and unfairly than the other arts.
(b) Its relationship to the other arts has received insufficient attention.
(c) It is more central to Blackness than other arts.
(d) It developed later than other arts, such as literature.

10. What is the purpose of the Edvard Munch quote in "Memory, Creation, and Fiction"?
(a) It introduces Morrison's central point about how memory is employed in writing fiction.
(b) It supports the claim that memory is more reliable than history.
(c) It reinforces the centrality of the visual arts in Morrison's creative process.
(d) It supports the counterclaim that history is more reliable than memory.

11. In "The Trouble with Paradise," what does Morrison call "a realm that is no realm at all"?
(a) Slavery.
(b) Race.
(c) History.
(d) Gender.

12. What does the title "Academic Whispers" refer to?
(a) The secret agreement to exclude Black professors from tenure at Princeton.
(b) Rumors circulating in the Princeton English Department about Morrison's refusal to participate in literary scholarship.
(c) Morrison's belief that there is a quiet conversation taking place about the purpose of African American literature.
(d) Echoes of past racism in modern literary criticism.

13. 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 personifies whiteness in order to attribute dark motives to its actions.
(b) Morrison metaphorically compares whiteness to a royal leader and universalism to a kingdom.
(c) Morrison uses royal imagery to establish the legitimacy of white universalism.
(d) Morrison uses sibilance to suggest that whiteness is demonic.

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

15. In "Rememory," Morrison complains that a racist society has what effect on her as a writer?
(a) It prevents her from being honest.
(b) It makes her question her talent.
(c) It makes her feel burdened by her Blackness.
(d) It hobbles her imagination.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Hannah Peace?

2. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that what is different about the discussion of including African-American literature in the canon is that unlike earlier arguments over expanding the canon, this one does what?

3. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that she sees a reflection of African-American cultural traditions in what form of literature?

4. In "Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison say is characteristic of Black art?

5. In "God's Language," what does Morrison say is the place of religion in African American culture?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 828 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample