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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 3, the author writes, "Someone in the audience asks the man promoting his new book on humor what makes something funny. His answer is what you expect." What is the answer he gives?
(a) "Gravity."
(b) "Irony."
(c) "Context."
(d) "Character."

2. Where does the author describe rushing to meet a friend in the beginning of Chapter 3?
(a) Oakland.
(b) Chicago.
(c) Berkeley.
(d) Santa Monica.

3. In Chapter 1, the author begins with the statement, "When you are alone and too tired even to turn on any of your devices, you let yourself linger in" what?
(a) "A white cloud of rain."
(b) "A past stacked among your pillows."
(c) "Your memory, vessel of your feelings."
(d) "A desperation that you cannot name."

4. Who wrote the following quotation that opens the book: "If they don't see happiness in the picture, at least they'll see the black"?
(a) Glenn Ligon.
(b) Sherman James.
(c) Zora Neale Hurston.
(d) Chris Marker.

5. The author writes in Chapter 1, "If this were a domestic tragedy, and it might well be, this would be your fatal flaw." What is the fatal flaw she describes?
(a) "Your memory, vessel of your feelings."
(b) "Your blackness."
(c) "Your belief in a system of justice."
(d) "Your ambition and hopes for progress."

Short Answer Questions

1. What animal does the author describe "surveying movement against the calm, red sky at morning" in Chapter 5?

2. What does the author describe the storm carrying her through in Chapter 5?

3. What ocean does the author describe "breaking on our heads" in Chapter 5?

4. Whom did Serena Williams play in her semifinal matchup in the 2004 Women's U.S. Open?

5. What word used in Chapter 5 refers to a caste in Hinduism specializing as priests, teachers, and protectors of sacred learning?

(see the answer key)

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