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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. According to Deacon Lindsay, what does Sister Taylor smell like?

2. Why does Daisy return to the store in Act 1, Scene 1?

3. What information does Sister Taylor share with Lum Boger in Act 1, Scene 2?

4. How does Joe Clarke respond to Deacon Simms' suggestion about the jail?

5. What does Dave Carter do after Jim Weston hits him?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Joe Clarke defend his decision to oversee the trial?

2. What evidence in Act 3 suggests that Dave and Jim still have a strong bond?

3. Describe Reverend Childers' successful prosecution argument. How does he convince Joe Clarke that Jim is guilty of assault with a weapon?

4. Describe Joe Clarke's treatment of Lum Boger.

5. According to Sister Thomas, why is Joe Clarke siding with the Baptists in the fight over Jim's trial?

6. Describe Daisy's reaction to the accusation that she has come between Dave and Jim.

7. What kind of relationship does Daisy seem to have with her mother?

8. What do the other characters think of Mrs. Roberts?

9. Why is Lum Boger unable to testify about the fight between Dave and Jim?

10. Why does Hambo bring out the checkerboard?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how an argument between two men over a girl becomes a community-wide battle over religion. Trace the evolution of the argument, and explain how the conflict evolves. Use specific examples to support your observations.

Essay Topic 2

Aside from the satire and the description of small-town life, "Mule Bone" is also a play about the strength of a friendship. Analyze the strength of Jim's and Dave's friendship. What challenges does their friendship survive, and what allows their friendship to survive these challenges? Provide evidence from the text to support your observations.

Essay Topic 3

Hughes and Hurston use a Southern dialect in the dialogue of the play in order to bring authenticity to the characters. Some of their contemporaries opposed this use of dialect, complaining that the characters are made to seem uneducated and simple. Even today, academics debate the use of dialect in this and other literary works. Defend or attack the authors' use of dialect in the play. Does dialect make the characters realistic, or is it demeaning to African-Americans from the South? Provide examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 957 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample