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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does August say saved her brother from feeling "halfway whole" (3)?
(a) Brooklyn.
(b) Education.
(c) Faith.
(d) Friendship.

2. What magazine reminded August that her family was not as poor as others?
(a) Time.
(b) Life.
(c) People.
(d) National Geographic.

3. After leaving her brother and returning to their father's apartment after the funeral, how did August feel?
(a) Extreme and unbearable sadness.
(b) A lack of any emotion.
(c) A sense of deep relief and fear.
(d) Solace and ease.

4. In Chapter 2, what did August notice about the white people in her apartment building?
(a) The white people were moving out of the building.
(b) The white people were causing riots and violence.
(c) The white people were always fighting and arguing in the hallways.
(d) The white people were jovial and friendly.

5. Where did August's mother's brother, Clyde, go to college? (51).
(a) Howard University.
(b) Brown University.
(c) University of Tennessee.
(d) University of Texas.

Short Answer Questions

1. How much older is August than her brother?

2. What did the August, Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi decide to do to protect Gigi after she was sexually assaulted?

3. Who reminded August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela of the old man who ran a sketchy shoe repair shop?

4. What is the origin of August's birth name?

5. In what condition did August, Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi find the man who raped Gigi in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the novel structured? Is the story related in a linear fashion or nonlinear? Why is this important?

2. What did August and her friends think of one another before they met?

3. What is the significance of the quote that opens the novel?

4. What does August say about the children of Biafra in 1968?

5. Why does August say in Chapter 4, "We didn't understand the kind of poverty we lived in" (42)?

6. What does August say about the music of her childhood in Chapter 1?

7. How does August describe her feelings about Sylvia when they were young?

8. In what ways did August and her friends protect themselves from the streets when they were adolescents?

9. What did Angela want to be when she grew up? Why?

10. How did drug abuse factor into August's childhood?

(see the answer keys)

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