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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 have to go through at the prison?

2. Who is Omar?

3. To what does Robby compare himself and the other inmates?

4. Why did Robby, Mike and Cecil leave this place?

5. What is the bad news about Robby's graduation?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does John characterize Robby's relationship with Omar?

2. How does Robby say the prison environment changes after his appeals are all turned down?

3. What does Robby say is the purpose of educate?

4. How does John describe Robby's arrest after the drug deal in Detroit?

5. How did Robby come to believe that Stavros had a gun?

6. What did Robby and Cecil argue about?

7. What pact did the robbers make, and how did it get broken?

8. Who was Red Murphy?

9. Describe Robby's meeting with Johnny-Boy.

10. What does Robby say was his impulse after the robbery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast John and Robby. How are they similar? How are they different? In what way are they one man? In what way are they two very different men?

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