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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. What kind of traditional preaching style do Bliss and Reverend Hickman have?
(a) Lecture.
(b) Call and response.
(c) Music-based.
(d) Participatory.

2. What rhyme does Bowlegs create to make fun of Bliss?
(a) Bliss, Bliss, he's a siss.
(b) Bliss, Bliss, Cat piss miss.
(c) He didn't create a rhyme.
(d) Blis, Bliss, always amiss.

3. Who are Donelson and Karp?
(a) None of these answers is correct.
(b) Bliss's uncles.
(c) Bliss's brothers.
(d) Bliss's filmmaker partners.

4. When Senator Sunraider wakes up after being attacked, what is the first thing he sees?
(a) The man who attacked him lurking in the shadows.
(b) Reverend Hickman looking at him.
(c) Angels by his bedside.
(d) His beautiful nurse.

5. What do Laly and Bliss do while on a picnic lunch one Sunday afternoon?
(a) Make love.
(b) Steal a car.
(c) Run away together.
(d) Get into a major fight.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does Juneteenth take place?

2. When he sees Hickman by his bedside, what does the senator want from him?

3. What two "sins" does Reverend Hickman frequently mention in his reminisces with the senator in the hospital?

4. How does Bliss breathe when locked inside the coffin?

5. What does Bliss find himself torn between after the large Juneteenth revival is interrupted?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Bliss think his teddy bear is so brave?

2. At what moment does Hickman realize his life is really going to change?

3. Why is Bliss conflicted over Hickman's strong encouragement to begin preaching at such a young age?

4. What does the senator remember as surprising him the most about the woman who interrupts the large Juneteenth service?

5. Why does Reverend Hickman claim that the senator cannot call the object he was in a coffin?

6. Why is Sister Georgia hesitant to hug Bliss as a child?

7. As a boy, what did Bliss call Reverend Hickman?

8. Why does Sister Georgia whisk Bliss away from the Juneteenth revival after Reverend Hickman and Sister Bearmasher take the crazy woman to jail?

9. What kinds of literary techniques does Ellison use when describing Senator Sunraider's childhood memories as he lay dying in his hospital bed?

10. Why does the group of elderly churchgoers go to Washington, D.C.?

(see the answer keys)

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