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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 does John say Jamila remembers about Robby?

2. What does John say freedom is related to?

3. Where did John go to school?

4. John says that the prisoners are like him except for what?

5. What is a fence?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does John say he and his family act when they get to the penitentiary?

2. Who is Garth, and what was his importance in Robby's life?

3. Describe the style and format of 'Brothers and Keepers'.

4. How does John say he and his family are treated at the penitentiary?

5. How does John treat the prisoners?

6. How does John say Robby changed his mother?

7. In what way is John on the run as much as Robby is?

8. What does John say Jamila knows of Robby?

9. What happened after Robby's arrest?

10. How does John characterize the freedom gained by escaping from a situation or place?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast John and Robby's methods of speaking out. What do they say, when they have a chance? What are they prevented from saying? What does this tell us about the options black men have, for speaking up?

Essay Topic 2

According to John Wideman, Robby is locked up like an animal. What other metaphors are common to "Brothers and Keepers", and what does the web of metaphorical associations tell us about Wideman and his ideas about Robby's incarceration? Does he treat the idea playfully? Is he deadly serious about it? Does he try to magnify the significance of it through metaphor? Does he try to diminish it or domesticate it?

Essay Topic 3

In what way are John and Robby American? What part of their experience is essentially American, and what other parts of their experiences are not typically American? What nationality or identity do they partake of if they are not American?

(see the answer keys)

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