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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. What does Wright do at age four?

2. Where is Richard Wright born?

3. How does Ellison describe Wright's autobiography "Black Boy?"

4. Where does Ellison grow up?

5. Where and when is "The World and The Jug" published?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Ellison's writing process for "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke?"

2. In "Richard Wright's blues" how does Ellison describe the blues?

3. Why was the young Ellison drawn to reading?

4. Where do Ellison and Hyman divide in their understanding of black face minstrel performance?

5. What writers are at issue in the exchange between Irving Howe and Ralph Ellison?

6. What is different about Oklahoma and the relationship of different races when compared to the South or even to Texas?

7. Did Richard Wright influence Baldwin or Ellison?

8. How does Ellison leave the rather bitter dialogue with Howe?

9. What does Ellison find so remarkable about Crane?

10. When Ellison accepts the American National Book Award for "The Invisible Man" what does he say that the award is recognizing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ellison's childhood is joyful and full of many artistic influences. What in the interview "That Same Pain, That Same Pleasure" gives you the most insight into his childhood? What activities stir up in the young Ellison that romantic longing and belief that any kind of life is possible? How does music and dance affect his life? Who are his heroes? Why?

Essay Topic 2

In "The Art of Fiction: An Interview" Ellison explores the relationship between art and protest. What does Ellison believe, for him, writing fiction is? Is social comment or protest part of his work at all? If so, how does he see his particular style of writing as contributing to positive social change?

Essay Topic 3

In the four articles on musicians written for the Saturday Review, Ellison explores the development of each individual artist. What do Mahalia Jackson, Charlie Parker, Charlie Christian and Jimmy Rushing have in common? Why does Ellison choose both nationally famous and locally famous musicians to write about? How are the careers and styles of the four musicians different?

(see the answer keys)

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