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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The author states in the Foreword that her concept of breaking the narrative of the novel into parts "didn't work" because many readers "remain touched but not" what?
(a) “Enlightened.”
(b) “Informed.”
(c) “Guilty.”
(d) “Moved.”

2. The narrator says in Part II, “So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not want” what?
(a) “My money.”
(b) “My advice.”
(c) “Me to die.”
(d) “My help.”

3. With whom had Mr. Henry been living before taking a room from the MacTeer family?
(a) Miss Marie.
(b) Miss Poland.
(c) Miss Delia Jones.
(d) Miss Erkmeister.

4. According to the narrator in Part II, who “spent all their energies, all their love, on their nests”?
(a) “Poor white people.”
(b) “Rich white people.”
(c) “Poor Hispanic people.”
(d) “Propertied black people.”

5. The narrator states in Part II, “The only living thing in the Breedloves' house was” what?
(a) “The bed.”
(b) “The couch.”
(c) “The coal stove.”
(d) “The kitchen sink.”

Short Answer Questions

1. What pet does Jane first attempt to play with in the story from Part I?

2. Of what dancer does Claudia say in Part II “was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me”?

3. What is the narrator of Part II’s sister’s name?

4. Part I of the novel begins with a story about a girl named Jane and her brother, who is named what?

5. In speaking of Pecola’s father in Part I, the narrator says, “Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator discuss regarding property-owning black families and their motivations in “Autumn”?

2. Describe the narrative style of the novel. Who narrates the opening passages before “Autumn”?

3. For what reason does the Breedlove family stay in the apartment, according to the narrator in “Here is the House…”?

4. What foreshadowing is revealed by the narrator in the end of Part I?

5. Is the setting of the novel focused on a specific societal group, or is the setting inclusive of different racial groups?

6. How is Mr. Henry described in “Autumn”? What is his role in the MacTeer home?

7. According to some critics, the three versions of the reader presented on the first page of The Bluest Eye represent three lifestyles presented in the novel. What does the second version represent?

8. What does Pecola pray for every night, according to the narrator in “Here is the Family…”? Why?

9. What do Claudia and Frieda receive at the beginning of the school year in “Autumn”? What conversation consumes “the grownups” in the opening of this chapter?

10. How does the narrator compare the state of being “put out” with being “outdoors” in “Autumn”?

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