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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Ellison describe his boyhood experience in Oklahoma?
(a) Very controlled and regimented experience.
(b) Poverty stricken existence with little enjoyment.
(c) Series of mind numbing and violent episodes.
(d) Romantic aspirations in the spirit of frontier adventurousness.

2. What folk tradition does Ellison believe the black face figure grows out of?
(a) Africa.
(b) Europe.
(c) America.
(d) West Indies.

3. Where is the essay "Richard Wright's Blues" published and when?
(a) The Antioch Review, Summer 1945.
(b) The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Summer 1935.
(c) The New York Times, Fall 1955.
(d) The Oklahoman Messenger, Winter 1919.

4. What does Ellison say the greatest difficulty for the Negro writer is?
(a) Find a subject worthy of his time and effort.
(b) Reveal what he truly feels rather than serving up what Negroes are supposed to feel.
(c) Capture the Negro speech idiom and put it down on paper.
(d) Get someone to publish him because most of the publishers were white.

5. What does Mark Twain do with the character of Jim that breaks through the black face minstrel tradition?
(a) Jim performs black face without the paint.
(b) He's a complex, dignified and very human person.
(c) Jim's very serious and not at all fun.
(d) Jim is stereotypical and boring.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Ellison choose to analyze Ernest Hemingway?

2. Why does Oklahoma hold some freedom and equality for Negroes at the time Ellison lived there?

3. How old is Crane when he wrote his masterpiece "The Red Badge of Courage?"

4. What specific folk art form does "Black Boy" reflect?

5. What are Crane's parents like?

(see the answer key)

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