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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. The narrator states in Chapter 2, “And this is the dwarfing, warping, distorting influence which operates upon each colored man in the United States. He is forced to take his outlook on all things, not from the viewpoint of a citizen, or a man, nor even a human being, but from the viewpoint of” what?

2. What is the nickname of the fourteen-year-old boy that the narrator befriends in Chapter 1?

3. What does the narrator describe surrounding the flowers in the front yard of his childhood home in Chapter 1?

4. The narrator of the novel was born a few years after the close of what war?

5. On what day of the week does the narrator’s mother play the piano in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man? What secret does he discuss in Chapter 1?

2. How does the motif of music apply in the novel? What is the narrator’s relationship to music?

3. What are “slave narratives”? How are they related to the narrative of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?

4. How are the author’s teenage years described? For whom did he work and where?

5. What event takes place informing the narrator of his ethnic heritage in his early years? How does he react to the information?

6. What does the narrator discover when he encounters the porter at a dance in Chapter 5?

7. Where does the narrator begin working in Jacksonville in Chapter 5?

8. Where does the narrator hide his money at the rooming house in Chapter 4? Where does he go after this?

9. What elements does the novel share with the Realist Movement in literary style?

10. What popular dance does the narrator describe in Chapter 5? When did the dance develop?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator’s decision to return to New York after the closing of the cigar factory. Where do the other workers decide to go to look for work? Who chooses to go with the narrator to the North? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Define irony and the different forms of irony used in literature. What is dramatic irony and how does it apply to the novel? What are examples of irony in Chapter 5? What is ironic about the narrator’s perceptions of personal and racial identity in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Elaborate on the setting of New York City in the narrative. How does the African American culture in New York at this time differ from what the narrator has experienced in Connecticut, Georgia, or Florida? What are his perceptions of the black community here? How does the music inspire the narrator?

(see the answer keys)

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