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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 is Richard afraid Crane and Pease will do if he tells his boss?

2. What does Richard have to call his aunt in class?

3. What does Richard do to stop feeling so hungry?

4. How does Richard help Granny to request money from her relatives?

5. What does Richard have to fight Uncle Tom off with?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why can Richard not believe in God?

2. What mistake does Granny make at the end of Chapter 4?

3. Why does Richard stop selling the newspaper?

4. Why does Richard think Grandpa is so bitter?

5. What does Richard think about the popular contention that black people lead passionate, emotional lives?

6. Why does Richard develop a bitter association between his father and hunger?

7. Why does the schoolteacher have to move out of Granny's house?

8. What does Richard eat for his meals in Jackson?

9. What does Richard do with the money he steals?

10. How do Pease and Reynolds treat Richard at the optical factory?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the book. Why do you think these themes are so important to the book? How does Wright use character and setting to express his themes?

Essay Topic 2

Examine violence in the novel.

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

2) 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?

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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