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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. Where does Lafeyette get Pahroah to agree to go?

2. After placing second behind Clarise, what really makes Pharoah happy?

3. What is it called when a hospital sends a patient to another hospital?

4. What position had LaJoe's mother held when LaJoe was a child?

5. What does Lafeyette think about LaShawn?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is it about public defender Anne Rhodes that Lafeyette does not understand?

2. Why do LaJoe and Lafeyette back off from trying to stop the beating of a man by some Horner gang members?

3. What happens to Lafeyette and Pharoah in regard to their education?

4. How does the judge make LaJoe feel after Lafeyette's hearing?

5. Describe Lafeyette's brush with the law that gets him arrested.

6. Why does Pharoah stay up all night on December 30th?

7. How does LaJoe remember the day Terrence was sentenced since Terrence had requested that she not come to court that day?

8. Why does Terrence agree to participate in an armed robbery?

9. What are Lafeyette's nightmares like?

10. What happens at the hearing in spite of Anne Rhodes' telling the judge she does not think Lafeyette is guilty?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper on pacifism. Starting with Pharoah who avoids physical conflict and often goes to his secret place where he feels safe, discuss the idea that pacifism has the advantage of not escalating conflict. You may want to mention Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in your paper. Show how pacifism is not the same thing as weakness.

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on uniforms in gangs. Use Kotlowitz's description of the uniform identities of the Vice Lords. Compare that to uniforms adopted by schools, social institutions, and the military. Explain to what extent the purpose of the uniform is the same and to what extent it is different in these various organization.

Essay Topic 3

Twenty years after the events in 1989 involving Pharoah and his drive for an education, America elected its first African-American President who, interestingly, got his first job working in the Chicago housing projects. Write an essay about how young people like Pharoah began seeing greater opportunities during the last two decades.

(see the answer keys)

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