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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 does Wright tell his boss he has studied for two years?

2. Where is Mann shot?

3. Who meets Mann in town?

4. Which member of the Heartfield family answers Brinkley's call?

5. Where do Big Boy and his friends go?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the boys give the made up word "quall" meaning?

2. What does Big Boy think about while he waits in the hole?

3. Describe Wright's house.

4. How does this chapter show the four teenage boys as innocent?

5. Describe the encounter Wright has with some white boys when he gets a flat tire.

6. What job do the soldiers give Mann at the beginning of this chapter?

7. Describe Wright's work as a bellboy.

8. Describe the confrontation between Wright and the night watchman.

9. What happens to Mann when he gets to town?

10. What are Big Boy and his friends doing in this chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Wright's writing style. How would you describe his prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? Does he use any specific writing techniques? What meaning does Wright's style give to his story?

Essay Topic 2

All the stories in the book are written in the third person. Why do you think Wright chose to write in the third person? How do you think the meaning of the book would change if it were written in the first person?

Essay Topic 3

Examine violence in the novel.

1) What are differences in the stories between how black people are violent and how white people are violent?

2) In what way does the violence play an important part in getting Wright's view across?

3) How do the students think the public reacted to the novel's violence when it was first published? How would the public react to such a book today?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample