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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. In "Invisible Ink," Morrison says that she deliberately introduces ambiguity into her novels for what purpose?
(a) As an emotional challenge to the reader.
(b) To create suspense.
(c) To make the reader participate in the construction of the novel.
(d) As a thematic reminder that the world itself is ambiguous.

2. In her "James Baldwin Eulogy," Morrison makes an allusion to what Biblical story?
(a) The visit of the Three Wise Men to the Christ child.
(b) The destruction of Solomon's temple.
(c) Leviathan.
(d) David and Goliath.

3. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison proposes to show how memoir is similar to and different from what?
(a) Fiction.
(b) Literary criticism.
(c) Poetry.
(d) History.

4. In "Goodbye to All That," what does Morrison say that she wants her work to disable?
(a) The hegemony of Europeans in the canon.
(b) The Western canon.
(c) Modern secular humanism.
(d) The art versus politics debate.

5. In "Goodbye to All That," what does Morrison say was her motive for insisting on being identified as a Black writer from the beginning?
(a) She wanted to unambiguously reject white culture.
(b) She wanted to expand critical vocabulary to encompass territory within Black culture.
(c) She hoped to make an argument for Black universalism.
(d) She hoped to provoke a conversation about the viability of Black culture.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Grendel and His Mother," Morrison notes that Beowulf is a part of Western literature's characterization of evil as what?

2. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison says that slave narratives had two purposes: one was to record the life of an individual human being, and the other was what?

3. In "Invisible Ink," what word does Morrison object to when it is applied to text?

4. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that she sees a reflection of African-American cultural traditions in what form of literature?

5. Morrison's novel "Paradise" is set where?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “God’s Language," what does Morrison say is the problem with trying to use modern language to describe Biblical concepts?

2. In “Memory, Creation, and Fiction," what Black cultural aesthetic expectations does Morrison discuss as important in her work, and why is it important to her to use them?

3. According to “Goodbye to All That: Race, Surrogacy, and Farewell," what have been the changes over time in the literary handling of relationships between women of different races?

4. In “The Trouble with Paradise" what reasons does Morrison give for leaving the racial identification of those in the Convent ambiguous?

5. In “Grendel and His Mother," what does Morrison say is interesting about the Danes' reaction to Grendel, and what does she say this shows about the nature of evil?

6. In “The Source of Self-Regard," what does Morrison describe as some of the contradictions that jazz contains?

7. In “Unspeakable Things Unspoken," what does Morrison say she is trying to evoke with the image of nightshade in the beginning of Sula?

8. In “Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes," Morrison says that the two responses to chaos are "renaming" and "violence." What does she mean by this?

9. According to “The Writer Before the Page," why does Morrison use allusions to folktales in her writing?

10. In “James Baldwin Eulogy,” what does Morrison describe as Baldwin's contribution to language?

(see the answer keys)

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