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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. How does the narrator regard Mr. Bledsoe?

2. Why does the Reverend Barbee trip over Dr. Bledsoe?

3. What is Trueblood's explanation of the rape of his daughter?

4. What mistake does the narrator make at Liberty Paints?

5. What does Dr. Bledsoe call the narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the sleeping ones?

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

3. Why do the grandfather's dying words make the narrator feel guilty about receiving praise?

4. How was the narrator's graduation speech a betrayal of black people?

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

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

7. What does Ellison mean by "benign neglect"?

8. Why does the narrator say he is invisible?

9. Describe Dr. Bledsoe.

10. Why does the drug store have the pork chop and grits special?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of white vs black and dark vs light throughout the novel. How are these contrasting concepts used in unexpected ways?

Essay Topic 2

In his last meeting with Hambro, the narrator is told that his own members--the blacks in Harlem--must be sacrificed for the good of the Brotherhood and that they will be making temporary alliances with other groups. Since the alliance with the blacks seems to have accomplished nothing for the blacks themselves, what was the purpose of the work in Harlem? Why did it fail? How did the alliance--if such it could be called--contribute to the riot?

Essay Topic 3

What is illusion? Can illusion be imposed upon a person without his consent? Can illusion be chosen so effectively that a person believes his own fancies? Discuss which characters are choosing to be deluded. Is the delusion helping or hurting their cause?

(see the answer keys)

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