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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 is "the Thing"?
(a) Morrison's distaste for Africanist literature.
(b) Cardinal's illness.
(c) Louis Armstrong concert.
(d) Classic literature.

2. Who was Cardinal warned against having relationships with?
(a) White people.
(b) Jewish people.
(c) Black people.
(d) Arab people.

3. What book discusses certain kinds of readings that seem inextricable from certain experiences of writing and knowledge?
(a) Preludes IV.
(b) The Words to Say It.
(c) Possession.
(d) Playing in the Dark.

4. Which of the dichotomies is shown in the example of a slave woman being kind to her mistress's children but her own mother is not good to her?
(a) Pure and restrained.
(b) Angry and resentful.
(c) Sinful but enticing.
(d) Benevolent and wicked.

5. Which of the following does Morrison say studies of racism focus on?
(a) Abusers.
(b) Activists.
(c) Victims.
(d) Accusers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the opposite of restrained in the dichotomy present in Morrison's book?

2. Who is the author of Three Lives?

3. What begins to tear at Cardinal's nerves?

4. What are references to Sapphira and the Slave Girl noted as being?

5. Where does Morrison claim to apply the knowledge in Playing in the Dark?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the term Africanism mean?

2. What can happen if we learn about the way Africanism functions in the literary imagination?

3. What does Morrison hope that studies of racism will begin to examine?

4. What is the Byatt quote from Possession about?

5. Why doesn't Sapphira and the Slave Girl allow readers to ignore race?

6. What does it mean when Morrison says that her vulnerability lies in romanticizing blackness?

7. Describe The Words to Say It and its subject matter.

8. What does Morrison say Sapphira and the Slave Girl is an example of?

9. What type of language does Morrison struggle with?

10. What is the book Playing in the Dark based on?

(see the answer keys)

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