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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. Who is the author of the Opening Poem?

2. In what state did Mattie grow up?

3. Which of the following does not describe the black women of Brewster Place?

4. What does the attorney advise Mattie regarding Basil's bail?

5. Mattie notes that her son is looking just like whom?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are Mattie and Ciel's lives the same? How are they different?

2. How is it that Kiswana cannot see the blood on the bricks, only rain water?

3. How does Cora Lee differ in her view of the necessity of having a man?

4. Compare and contrast Etta and Mattie.

5. What can the tenants tell from Ben's singing?

6. What life lessons is the author imparting through Mattie, Miss Eva and Etta at this point of the story?

7. What is Mattie's legacy to generations of women who will come after her?

8. What are the personality characteristics of Brewster Place?

9. Compare and contrast Mattie and Basil.

10. What are the motivations for Sophie's hateful behavior?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of Mattie's dream? Does the author end the book on a hopeful note? Explain your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

Etta longs for respectability yet sleeps with a traveling minister on the night she meets him. Did Etta think she was putting her heart in a safe place? What is the irony in this situation? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Explain the significance of the Langston Hughes poem used at the beginning of the book. Why did the author choose Hughes' work?

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