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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison uses examples of literary partings between Black and white women to demonstrate what?
(a) Male writers consistently miss what is most important in relationships between women.
(b) Over time, the Black women in these pairings are portrayed as more fully realized human beings.
(c) Not much progress has been made in literary depictions of race relations.
(d) White writers are not able to convincingly portray Black women.

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

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

4. 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 Phoenicians are wrongly viewed as culturally close to ancient Jewish civilization.
(d) The European model of Ancient Greece is the basis of Christianity's appropriation of Israel.

5. In "Chinua Achebe," what does Morrison say she discovered at Africa House?
(a) A writer who helped her meet Chinua Achebe.
(b) A series of lectures by Chinua Achebe.
(c) African American art.
(d) African literature.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. 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?

3. In "Grendel and His Mother," Morrison notes that Beowulf is a part of Western literature's characterization of evil as what?

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

5. In "On Beloved," Morrison says that one thing that frustrates her is the absence of Black girls where?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “God’s Language," what does Morrison say is the problem with trying to use modern language to describe Biblical concepts?

2. In “Unspeakable Things Unspoken," what does Morrison say she is trying to evoke with the image of nightshade in the beginning of Sula?

3. According to “The Writer Before the Page," why does Morrison use allusions to folktales in her writing?

4. In “The Source of Self-Regard," what does Morrison say made her uncomfortable about the letters she received from students, and why did it make her feel this way?

5. In “The Trouble with Paradise," what does Morrison mean when she says that fiction writers have to stare unblinking into the "realm of difference"?

6. According to “Goodbye to All That: Race, Surrogacy, and Farewell," what have been the changes over time in the literary handling of relationships between women of different races?

7. In “Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison say Faulkner's influence on her has been?

8. In “Invisible Ink," what does Morrison say bothers her about the association of the word "pleasure" with reading?

9. In “Academic Whispers," what three reasons does Morrison say are poor reasons to include African American literature in the canon?

10. In “The Site of Memory," what does Morrison say about how image and memory interacted for her in relation to her father's death and Song of Solomon?

(see the answer keys)

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