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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 in Part II says that her family’s house is “old, cold” and what color?

2. In Part II, the narrator says that “drunken men with sober eyes sing in the lobby” of what hotel?

3. How old does the narrator say she is in Part II?

4. The author describes The Bluest Eye as having begun as a bleak narrative of what in the Foreword?

5. Whose image is on the milk cup that Frieda brings to Pecola in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What is the primary setting for the novel? How is the author connected to this setting?

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

6. 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?

7. What important symbolic images are presented in the opening “Dick and Jane” reader and the preface in Part I?

8. Who can be seen in Part I as characters that face trouble assimilating into “white society’s standards of beauty”?

9. Why does Pecola Breedlove come to live with the MacTeers in “Autumn”?

10. 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 third version represent?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define “narrative point of view,” and identify this in The Bluest Eye. Is the narrative of the “Dick and Jane” related in first, second, or third person? How does the narrative point of view change in the italicized preface in Part I? How does the narrative point of view and tense fluctuate within the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Claudia’s hatred of baby dolls and the metaphorical meaning behind this hatred. How does Claudia explain her disdain? What does she do with the dolls she’s given? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of “ugliness” in the novel. As opposed to “beauty,” how is ugliness defined by the narrator? What do you view “ugliness” as? How is ugliness portrayed by the Breedlove family?

(see the answer keys)

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