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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did the narrator get invited to participate in the Battle Royal?
(a) The people who arranged the speech planned to include him.
(b) He thought it was part of the award.
(c) He happened to be at the hotel to give a speech to white men.
(d) He volunteered because it looked interesting.

2. Which of the following represents the narrator's philosophy?
(a) Truth is destined to come forth
(b) The truth is the light and the light is the truth
(c) The light reveals all things
(d) The light reveals the truth

3. What mistake does the narrator make at Liberty Paints?
(a) He adds too much pigment to the paint
(b) He adds paint remover instead of the pigment to the paint
(c) He uses the wrong tank of paint
(d) He does not paint the sample correctly.

4. The main conflict of Ellison's original story revolves around
(a) problems associated with war
(b) racial tension
(c) national poverty
(d) imperialism

5. How does the narrator describe the students as they enter the chapel?
(a) They enter with the love a captured people has for their conquerors.
(b) They enter the chapel with resentment and fear.
(c) They enter the chapel joyfully.
(d) They enter with dread and hesitation.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Mr. Norton explain the day's events?

2. When the narrator goes to see Mr. Emerson, who does he actually see?

3. What does the narrator discuss with the woman in his dream?

4. How is the paint symbolic?

5. According to Ellison, which of the following is important for perseverance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator expect from his visit with Mr. Bates?

2. What does Ellison mean when he says that for African Americans, all wars are "wars within wars."

3. What literary device is used in Chapter 4?

4. Of what "irresponsibility" are sleepwalkers and dreamers accused?

5. Why is Harlem a particularly appropriate setting for the novel?

6. Why does Mr. Norton give Jim Trueblood $100?

7. In what way, according to the veteran, is the narrator likely to become a casualty?

8. What is the objective of Rev. Barbee's sermon?

9. What final action does the hospital take to ensure the narrator's silence?

10. Why does the narrator say he is invisible?

(see the answer keys)

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