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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Race Matters," Morrison creates a metaphorical comparison between "race-specific, race-free" language and what?
(a) Romantic love.
(b) A church.
(c) Civil rights actions like the Selma bridge march.
(d) A borderless, safe, outdoor space.

2. Morrison's reading of fiction about Africa written by non-African writers reminded her of what part of her childhood?
(a) The first time she was called a racial epithet.
(b) Her own immigration to America from Ghana.
(c) When she struggled to understand a movie set in Asia.
(d) When the church collection plate was passed to raise money for Africa.

3. Where did Morrison go to school as a child?
(a) In segregated private schools in New York.
(b) In public schools in Florida that were suddenly segregated while she was a student.
(c) In desegregated private schools throughout America.
(d) In public schools in Ohio that had never been segregated.

4. In "Literature and Public Life," what does Morrison say shapes our understanding of community?
(a) Literature from outside the canon.
(b) Government propaganda.
(c) Literature from the canon.
(d) The media, especially television.

5. To whom does Morrison address her remarks about the dead of September 11, 2001?
(a) To all Americans.
(b) To the families of the dead.
(c) To the dead themselves.
(d) To the terrorists responsible for the deaths.

6. Morrison's discussion of Huckleberry Finn in "Black Matter(s)" is intended as an illustration of what?
(a) Historical accuracy in fiction.
(b) Gothic Romanticism.
(c) American Africanism.
(d) The shadow of Puritanism in fiction.

7. In "The Slavebody and the Blackbody," when Morrison suggests that writing about slavery cuts away at the scar tissue the blackbody uses to hide the slavebody, what technique is she using?
(a) Ethos.
(b) Figurative language.
(c) Logos.
(d) Allusion.

8. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," the slave population became the focus of what fundamental feeling of the colonists?
(a) The "Romantic yearning for freedom."
(b) The "outcast's terror."
(c) The "Pilgrim's awe and piety."
(d) The "immigrant's hope."

9. In "The Nobel Lecture in Literature," What does Morrison refer to with the phrase "tongue-suicide"?
(a) The death of language.
(b) A refusal to speak for what is right.
(c) The willingness to ban and destroy books.
(d) Lying.

10. Morrison begins "Moral Inhabitants" with a list of what Colonial import and export items?
(a) Bibles and other religious tracts.
(b) Slaves.
(c) Indentured servants.
(d) Guns.

11. The art show Morrison discusses in "Harlem on My Mind" had a catalog with a forward written by whom?
(a) Toni Morrison.
(b) A high-school student.
(c) Romare Bearden.
(d) The city parks commissioner.

12. In "Black Matter(s)," Morrison speculates that slaves offered white Americans a sense of what?
(a) Power and authority they had been denied in Europe.
(b) Religious duty to the oppressed.
(c) Permissiveness and freedom lacking in the Europe of that time.
(d) Being monitored by their social inferiors.

13. According to "Harlem on My Mind," the term "postblack" refers to whom?
(a) Critics who refuse to evaluate Black art according to the aesthetics of the Black community.
(b) Critics who make race the key factor in their analysis of works of art.
(c) Black artists who want their art to be evaluated by aesthetic standards only--not classified according to their race.
(d) Black artists who distance themselves from Blackness by identifying with white culture.

14. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," what is a key factor in national identity?
(a) Literature.
(b) Immigration.
(c) Politics.
(d) Religion.

15. Where does Morrison say we erroneously turn for answers to contemporary social problems?
(a) Science.
(b) Literature.
(c) Religion.
(d) The past.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In "The Individual Artist," what does Morrison find interesting about the feud between literary critics from different schools of criticism?

3. In "A Race in Mind," Morrison asks for more thoughtful work from what group?

4. In "The Price of Wealth, the Cost of Care," what does Morrison blame for diminishing our desire to care for others in modern times?

5. In "Race Matters," Morrison says that tow of the thematic concerns of her work are race and what?

(see the answer keys)

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