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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 has Lutie heard about Jim since leaving him at her former apartment?

2. How does Bub feel about the school lunches?

3. What does Boots invite Lutie to do?

4. What does Jones see in the bedroom that stops him in his tracks?

5. Of what is Boots speaking when he says, "Wrapped up and tied up for as long as you want it"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does chapter 3 illustrate the racism and sexism faced by Lutie? Provide at least 1 example of each.

2. Jones becomes enraged when he looks at Bub and imagines that the boy resembles his father. Why do you think this is?

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. Lutie leaves the butcher shop and is in light spirits. As she walks home, she notices that the women are burdened by marketing bags and on their way home to take care of their families after a long day of work. She also notes that the men lounge around watching the women. How does Lutie feels about this distinction?

7. Chapter 5 is written from Min's point of view. Why has the author chosen to use different narrators?

8. Chapter 1 opens with the description of a cold and windy day in New York City. Why might the author have chosen to describe the wind through personification?

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

10. How did the white bartenders treat the patrons of Junto's? How did this treatment differ from the treatment they received in the workforce?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jones suffers from some sort of mental disease. This fact is noted throughout The Street. Still, not one of the characters suggests that Jones might seek professional help for his condition. Why do you think the characters just dismiss Jones' state as hopeless? Why do you think Jones hasn't considered professional help himself? How might Jones be different if he were shown a bit of compassion from those who surround him? And lastly, what does his dismissal suggest about the society we live in?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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