View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

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

3. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison says that she is willing to talk about typical graduation topics like the future, responsibility, and goodness, but not what?

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

5. In "Women, Race, and Memory," Morrison divides women into three groups: feminists, anti-feminists, and whom?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “Racism and Fascism,” what does Morrison say are the characteristics of fascism?

2. In “Wartalk,” how does Morrison say that globalization differs from colonialism and internationalism?

3. In “A Race in Mind: The Press in Deed," how does Morrison connect the idea of "special interests" with the racial identification of subjects in news stories?

4. In her speech “Cinderella’s Stepsisters," what is the purpose of the allusion to Cinderella?

5. According to Morrison's “Women, Race, and Memory," what are the assumptions behind infighting among women?

6. In “The Slavebody and the Blackbody,” how does Morrison differentiate between these two kinds of bodies, and why does she bother?

7. In “The Nobel Lecture in Literature," Morrison explains why oppressive language is a problem: what effects does she claim it has?

8. In “Black Matter(s)," in what ways does Morrison say Africanism has become a "disabling virus"?

9. Explain how, according to Morrison's "Wartalk," the language around war has changed and when these changes occurred.

10. In “The Individual Artist," what is the paradox that Morrison says artists face?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In “The War on Error,” Morrison employs a conceit comparing governments to students. Explain how she develops this conceit and how it impacts an audience’s understanding of her central point in “The War on Error.”

Essay Topic 2

In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, when he says, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here,” he is referring to the importance of his own speech versus the significance of the dead of the Battle of Gettysburg. Explain at least three similarities in tone and/or content to Morrison’s “The Dead of September 11.”

Essay Topic 3

In "On Beloved," Morrison offers a metaphorical comparison between an image or piece of language and a key, and compares untraveled literary territory to an area locked behind a large locked door. Explain what she means by this comparison and how it relates to her writing of Beloved.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 850 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample