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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. Which of the following does the narrator note is present in the Reinhardt Uplift Center?

2. By which of the following is Araminta’s father reported to be employed?

3. Which of the following flowers does the narrator note is planted at the Tiko for the festival?

4. On which of the following floors is Penny’s workplace at PHH?

5. To which of the following does the narrator compare Crown’s music?

Short Essay Questions

1. What outcome from the attack on the festival does the narrator note for PHH?

2. What does the narrator expect to hear from his father when he visits him in prison?

3. What reasons are given to the narrator for asking him to be BEG’s official spokesperson?

4. What reasons does the narrator give for disliking Araminta?

5. What does the narrator note was on sale at earlier festivals at the Tiko?

6. What reason does the narrator give for beginning to learn American Sign Language?

7. What does the narrator identify as “The problem with going to a grocery store when you’re the noncooking partner” (215)?

8. What does the narrator note as the inciting incident for his wanting to have Nigel demelanized?

9. What advice does the narrator report receiving from his grandfather?

10. What reasons are given for disbelief in ADZE’s complicity in the mall attack?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the functions of similes and metaphors in We Cast a Shadow.

Essay Topic 2

At several points in the novel, mention is made of the peculiarity of having and enjoying paper books and documents. What is to be made of the repeated mention, based on the text, and why is it to be made thereof?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following comment:

What was it about people who were late of the Motherland [Africa]? There was something about the cant of their cheeks and noses that made them instantly recognizable in relief to run-of-the-mill African Americans like myself. I guessed that people like this nurse’s ancestors were history’s victors, the lucky souls who had avoided the Middle Passage and miscegenation. Coffee never diluted by creamer (151).

Is the narrator’s assertion of luckiness accurate? What in the novel and in documented history suggests that it is or is not? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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