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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. To what danger is the author of the essay "Black and Blue" referring when he writes, "The streets had their own safety. Unlike at home, there I could be myself without fear of bodily harm" (130)?

2. When discussing the murders at Emanuel Methodist Church, the author of "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" states, "But Dylann Storm Roof did not create himself from" (146) what element?

3. How does the author of "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" end her list of rules that she says may help a black person avoid being killed?

4. What belief did Kiese Laymon's grandmother hold that he points to as the only reason he is alive?

5. What does Emily Raboteau name as her first instinct when she first sees the first Know Your Rights mural in her neighborhood?

Short Essay Questions

1. What contrast does the author of "Black and Blue" set up by using a quote from Fats Waller and a quote by Walt Whitman prior to the body of his essay?

2. How is paradox employed within the poem "Queries of Unrest" and to what effect?

3. How is repetition employed within the poem "Queries of Unrest" and to what effect?

4. What was the object mentioned in the very first lines of OutKast's music first heard by Kiese Laymon and why did the object's mention draw him in?

5. Why does Garnette Cadogan hold out hope that he will not encounter the same problems while walking in New York City that he had while walking in New Orleans?

6. Who does Claudia Rankine name as the person who created "a new pathway for how to think about a lynched body" (147) and what does she mean?

7. What is People's Justice and what is the organization's goal?

8. Why does Kevin Young insert "[name withheld]" rather than naming the killer responsible for the murders in Charleston?

9. In what ways did Kiese Laymon feel validated and inspired by the words of Andre 3000 at the Source Awards of 1995?

10. How does Garnette Cadogan misunderstand the advice of the university officials who tell him to walk only in certain areas of New Orleans after his move there to attend college?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Conduct an analysis of the rhetorical devices used by the author of "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" in order to assert her claim that shared grief is the key to unifying the United States in its pursuit of racial equality.

Essay Topic 2

Choose two of the poems contained in The Fire This Time and write an essay comparing and contrasting their respective messages and literary techniques.

Essay Topic 3

Despite the overwhelming gravity of the topic of racial injustice within modern America, Jesmyn Ward speaks to her feelings of hope when looking at the pieces collected within The Fire This Time. Choose three works that contain the theme of hope and discuss how the pieces' messages come together and how they link back to Jesmyn Ward's comments regarding hope in her introduction to the collection.

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