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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. When did Robby's robbery-murder take place?

2. What was Robby's personality as a child?

3. How does John say the guests are treated while they're at the prison?

4. Where did Robby's murder/robbery take place?

5. What was the Homewood Avenue district?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does John say Robby changed his mother?

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

3. What does John say the prisoners notice?

4. How does John treat the prisoners?

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

6. Describe John's visit with Robby.

7. Who travels to the prison to visit Robby?

8. What happened to Robby that he was wanted by the police?

9. How does John characterize the drive to the penitentiary?

10. Describe Robby's entrance into drugs and crime.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the role of the women in "Brothers and Keepers", and how would the action and ideas in the book be portrayed differently if they were described from a woman's perspective? How would John's mother, or Judy, or Tanya, tell this story? How does John include their point of view?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of "Brothers and Keepers"--did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

What does John and Robby's blackness have to do with "Brothers and Keepers"? How does it affect their situation, and where, if at all, do they escape from it, or evade its influence? How is blackness defined in the book, and how do John and Robby rework the definition so that it accommodates them?

(see the answer keys)

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