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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. In Chapter 18, what did Gifty’s mother tell her she needed to be in order to be baptized?

2. What did Gifty’s mother believe lived in her cousin’s apartment when she first moved to Alabama?

3. After Mr. Thomas funeral, Gifty’s mother made her father pull the car over so she could do what after hearing someone speak ill of the dead?

4. In Chapter 23, Gifty recalls flushing what down the toilet, which she was prescribed for strep throat?

5. Who does Buzz refer to in Gifty’s journal?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 6, what did Gifty witness between her brother and mother when she was a young girl?

2. What does Gifty say she learned after the incident at her brother’s soccer game during which the rival teams father yelled out a racial slur?

3. What did Gifty’s classmate Geoffrey say when she told him she is really a princess?

4. What did Gifty’s childhood nickname, asaa, mean?

5. What is foreshadowed at the end of Chapter 24?

6. How does Gifty’s mother describe the Chin Chin man?

7. In Chapter 25, when Gifty begins reading the Bible since her mother will not touch it, what does she notice that she did not notice as a child?

8. What did Gifty ask her mother while she was putting on makeup to get ready for work, and how did her mother respond?

9. What events made Gifty feel that a “particular kind of shame had descended on [her] congregation” (131)?

10. What fact does Gifty mention at the end of Chapter 3 that she and her mother “ignore” (11)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Gifty’s relationship like with her father? Use examples from the text including her tone when speaking to or about him.

Essay Topic 2

Write and essay on what Nana’s relationship to sports might represent in relation to his relationship with his father.

Essay Topic 3

Mental illness, addiction, and depression are themes in the novel. Analyze how the author uses her characters to develop these themes.

(see the answer keys)

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