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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is going on when Pharoah and the triplets come home from school three days after Lafeyette's birthday?

2. How do the people at Horner Homes call Urica?

3. What does the young man do with Lafeyette?

4. Why will Pharaoh not wear his nylon jacket with the Blackhawk logo?

5. Why do the boys hurry home from the tracks as the sun goes down?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the friendship between Pharoah and Rickey.

2. What is LaJoe's expectations for Pharoah?

3. Describe the relationship between LaJoe and her husband, Paul.

4. How does LaJoe's house become overcrowded?

5. How is the character of Pharoah developed in the story by how he cannot lie to LaJoe?

6. Explain what happens to Bird Leg.

7. How does a policeman treat Lafeyette in the stadium parking lot?

8. What is the contrast between the murders in an affluent school and the shooting of Alonzo at Horner?

9. How are Dawn and Demetrius singled out and publicized?

10. Point out the contradictions in the character of Jimmie Lee.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on social welfare systems in America. Give a balanced view, expressing the ways in which it certainly has helped a number of people. On the other hand, mention its inadequacies and offer suggestions about how it might be improved.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on the exploitation of children. Begin with the need for Lafeyette to grow old before his time. Expand that theme to child soldiers and sweatshop laborers. Discuss how and why this exploitation happens to children all over the world.

Essay Topic 3

Using LaJoe, Dawn, and LaShawn as examples, write a paper on the problem of teenage pregnancy. Discuss why it happens and why efforts to prevent teen pregnancies have not been all that successful. Discuss the other problems these young women face after their first child is born. Give your ideas of how the problem might be addressed.

(see the answer keys)

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