View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Robby say about John's first draft?

2. How does Robby characterize the person who helps them?

3. What ritual does John say he goes through when he sits with Robby?

4. How does Robby characterize the people he worked with?

5. What does Robby realize he has to do if he is going to reap any rewards?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does John describe Robby's drug deal in Detroit?

2. What does Robby say about educate for prisoners?

3. What do Robby and his crew do after the robbery?

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

5. How did the botched job feel wrong from the start, according to Robby?

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

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

8. What does Robby say about his educate in his speech?

9. How does John characterize his revision to Robby's story.

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

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 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

How has American culture changed since Wideman wrote his book? Research the incarceration of blacks and describe what has changed, if anything, in the system Wideman describes.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 791 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample