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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. Who is Sally?

2. What does Mattie say about moving in to the boardinghouse?

3. What was Jeremy arrested for?

4. Why does Zonia say she and her father have to find her mother?

5. Why does Selig say it's hard to find black people?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Bynum's meeting with the shiny man.

2. Describe Bertha's attitude toward Herald Loomis.

3. When Seth and Bertha leave Mattie and Loomis alone, what does Mattie ask Loomis about?

4. Why does Jeremy not want to enter a guitar-playing contest?

5. What does Reuben say the ghost he saw did and said?

6. What state is Bynum in immediately after dinner and before the Juba?

7. How did Loomis come to be reunited with his daughter but separated from his wife?

8. What does Mattie tell Loomis when he says he needs to find a starting place?

9. Describe what Bynum tells Jeremy about touching.

10. What is Jeremy's initial reaction to Molly Cunningham?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss hope in the story.

1) Why do the freed slaves come north to Pittsburgh? What does Seth think and say about their hope for a new life? How accurate is Seth's opinion?

2) Do the characters have hope during the play? Do any of the characters, such as Loomis, Jeremy, or Mattie, gain hope? What do they hope for?

3) What role does hope play in life and happiness in the play? Is hope helpful or harmful?

Essay Topic 2

Loomis's vision is an important element in the play. Discuss the meaning and significance of this vision.

1) What do the bones walking on water signify? Why do they sink? Why are they washed to shore?

2) Why is Loomis one of the sets of bones that washes to shore? Why can't he rise up and walk away like the other people?

3) What does the road signify in the vision? Why do the washed-up people walk down the road in different directions?

Essay Topic 3

Trauma is the enduring effects of an injury, such as slavery, which leaves a generations-long mark on African-Americans. Discuss trauma in the play.

1) How has Herald Loomis' trauma from being enslaved affected him and his life? Do any of the other characters affected a similar trauma?

2) How do the cultural repercussions of slavery affect Jeremy?

3) How do the cultural repercussions of slavery affect the women in the play and their relationships with men?

4) How is trauma from Herald Loomis' experience passed down to Zonia?

(see the answer keys)

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