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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 is in the narrator's briefcase?

2. The narrator wants to learn everything he can about the Brotherhood in order to

3. Which of the following is true about the narrator's position within the Brotherhood?

4. How is the narrator's preparations for the evening with Sybil ironic?

5. Brother Jack wants the narrator to avoid underestimating what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Brother Jack refers to Clifton as Brutus? How does the metaphor fit the situation?

2. Why does Brother Jack defend the narrator at this point?

3. How do we know at this point that the lobotomy has not been completely successful in changing the narrator's personality?

4. Why do Dupre and his men choose a particular building to burn?

5. How does the narrator really feel about the gift of the chain from Brother Tarp?

6. What was the narrator's real problem, and how has he settled it?

7. What strikes the narrator as the profound truth about the riot?

8. To what does Brother Tarp attribute the warning letter?

9. How does Emma's conversation create a sense of foreboding?

10. Why is Ras' anger ironic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Music or singing occur several times in the novel and the narrator himself refers to Armstrong. Explain how music contributes to the overall plot of the novel. Consider not only the narrator's private thoughts about music, but also the music in the chapel in Chapter 2, the music at the Brotherhood party, the man singing at Clifton's funeral, and others.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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