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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. Why hasn't Lutie divorced Jim?

2. How does Boots respond to Lutie's question about how he's able to get gas for his car?

3. How does Mrs. Hedges respond to Min's attempt to leave her some money?

4. What does Boots remind Lutie of?

5. Where is Boots' band scheduled to perform?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is likely the reason Bub refuses to tell his mother he's afraid of the dark?

2. Lutie first begins to measure people and their intentions in Chapter 1. How do you rate Lutie's ability to read people? Do you think she is accurate in her summations?

3. Lutie secures the job at the Chandlers', but she is unable to share her joy with her husband. Why is this?

4. What does Lutie feels she sees in the eyes of the neighborhood people, specifically the people she sees in the emergency room?

5. Why does Lutie refuse to wear the blouse crushed by Jones?

6. Describe what Junto's means to the different people in the neighborhood.

7. Why has Lutie failed, up until Chapter 9, to consider that Bub might be afraid of staying home alone?

8. Chapter 1 outlines the dynamics of Lutie's household. Lutie's father's girlfriend, Lil, has Bub lighting her cigarettes and tasting her gin. How does Lil's behavior reflect and amplify Lutie's fears for her son?

9. How does Lutie's grandmother's insistence that the butchers in Harlem use embalming fluid to give their meat a nice fresh color reflect her grandmother's overall view of life?

10. After reading Chapter 5, it is clear what motivates Min. Using the knowledge you've gained about Min, compare her to Lutie. How do the women differ? What characteristics do they share?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mrs. Hedges is an unattractive woman who has been burned so badly she refuses to show her body to a single soul. Yet, she orchestrates the selling of beauty and women's bodies. In an essay, explain this contradiction and analyze the author's use of it. Specifically, explain what point the contraction makes. You may wish to incorporate some of Mrs. Hedges' other obvious contradictions.

Essay Topic 2

Lutie's grandmother is a significant character in The Street, despite the fact that she has passed before it's telling. How does Petry make the grandmother as concrete a character as the other living characters? What techniques do you notice that allow the reader to feel as though they "know" the grandmother? What purpose does the grandmother serve within the novel?

Essay Topic 3

The Street ends tragically. Not only is Lutie now a murderer, but she has abandoned her child. Considering the gravity of both of these acts, are you sympathetic to Lutie? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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