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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 5: Interlude--Black Matter(s), including the essays “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature” through “Hard, True, and Lasting”.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison says that we can understand something important about literary "whiteness" by studying what?
(a) Literary Blackness.
(b) Changes to the canon over time.
(c) History.
(d) Black writers.

2. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison says that she is willing to talk about typical graduation topics like the future, responsibility, and goodness, but not what?
(a) Success.
(b) Ambition.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Humility.

3. According to Morrison, identifying the race of a subject can have what unintended consequence?
(a) Better representation of marginalized communities.
(b) Perpetuating stereotypes and marginalizing minorities.
(c) Shaping public perception of whiteness.
(d) Inaccurately depicting race as "real" instead of as a "construct."

4. In "Cinderella's Stepsisters," Morrison's central claim is that women should not do what?
(a) Undermine feminism by being too nurturing.
(b) Oppress other women.
(c) Participate in corrupt institutions.
(d) Risk the gains women have made by trying to move forward too quickly.

5. In the story that opens "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," what do the children ask the old woman about?
(a) Love.
(b) Death.
(c) A baby.
(d) A bird.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is a key characteristic of globalism, according to Morrison?

2. Where does Morrison say we erroneously turn for answers to contemporary social problems?

3. In "Arts Advocacy," Morrison recounts discovering that a highly regarded artist vetoed funding for another artist for what reason?

4. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," Gothic Romance is evidence of what feeling in the new nation?

5. What does Morrison say is at its greatest height since the time of the slave trade?

(see the answer key)

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