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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 Brinkley have to ferry people away from?

2. What does one of Wright's co-workers say Wright forgot to say?

3. What is the name of the family the soldiers ask Mann to save?

4. Which of the following subjects is Wright not allowed to talk about with his white employees?

5. What does Heartfield demand from Mann?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the confrontation between the boys and the couple in Chapter 5.

2. What does Wright say his mother taught him in the opening section?

3. Why do Big Boy's friends not want to go to the swimming pool?

4. What subjects can Wright not discuss with his white employees in Memphis?

5. What violence does Wright witness in the clothing store?

6. How do Wright's co-workers at the factory contrive to get rid of him?

7. What happens to Wright when his boss tells him to deliver groceries to a white neighborhood after dark?

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

9. How does Big Boy deal with the dog that finds him?

10. What work do the black men do at the cement plant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the structure of the book.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?

2) Examine the way Wright uses other people in the story to express his ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss differences between the novel and short story formats. What are the main elements of a novel? What are the main elements of an short story? What can Wright not express in a short story that he can in a novel? How does Wright use these limitations to his advantage?

Essay Topic 3

Examine black masculinity.

1) In what ways did the whites oppress black masculinity?

2) How did the white man's oppression of black masculinity affect black men?

3) How have black men reacted to the oppression of their masculinity?

(see the answer keys)

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