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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. What term did Elwood borrow from the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. when he pinpointed the problem with the would-be thieves' actions?
(a) Dignity.
(b) Respect.
(c) Honor.
(d) Honesty.

2. What subject did Mr. Hill teach at Lincoln High School when he talked to Elwood about taking college classes during Elwood's senior year?
(a) Music.
(b) Chemistry.
(c) History.
(d) English.

3. Which character was NOT a part of the group of the three most fearsome boys at Nickel?
(a) Black Mike.
(b) Desmond.
(c) Griff.
(d) Lonnie.

4. In what part of Elwood's body did he receive a punch from Black Mike at the scene of Elwood's intervention in the middle of a fight?
(a) His ear.
(b) His chest.
(c) His jaw.
(d) His stomach.

5. When Elwood first met the boys who slept on either side of them, he learned that their names were what?
(a) Spencer and Thomas.
(b) Turner and Blakely.
(c) Pat and Desmond.
(d) Harper and Desmond.

Short Answer Questions

1. For how many nights was Elwood permitted to sleep in his own home between his sentencing and his departure for Nickel?

2. How many desks had been squeezed into Elwood and Desmond's homeroom at Nickel?

3. Jody was a student from what university when she discovered the "secret graveyard" (3) on one part of the Nickel Academy's property?

4. Who presented Elwood with a recording called "Martin Luther King at Zion Hill" (11)?

5. Boys punished within the White House were ordered to lie down on a blood-stained mattress and to hold onto what object?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Elwood and what event prompted him to need to return to Nickel?

2. What examples does the narrator use to back up the claim that Harriet was rarely able to "make proper goodbyes to her loved ones" (70)?

3. What Christmas present did Elwood receive in 1962 that the narrator described as "the best gift of his life" (11)?

4. Describe Elwood's family, as it is presented in Chapters 1 through 3.

5. How did Elwood turn the nasty trick played by the Richmond Hotel staff into a boon?

6. How many boys were incarcerated at Nickel at the time of Elwood's arrival and in what way was the campus divided into two?

7. How are the themes of brutality and oppression intertwined within Chapter 6?

8. In what way was Elwood's family history intertwined with the Richmond Hotel in Tallahassee?

9. What was ironic about Harriet's punishment of Elwood upon learning that he had participated in a protest?

10. What does the industrial fan within Chapter 6 symbolize and with what theme does Whitehead connect the fan?

(see the answer keys)

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