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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. As which of the following does Jo Jo address the narrator in the message he leaves for him?
2. Which of the following sobriquets does the narrator’s father carry in prison?
3. Which of the following is the name of the English teacher at Nigel’s school?
4. Which of the following books does the narrator note is advertised in Nzinga’s clinic?
5. To which of the following does Armbruster compare Octavia?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does the narrator report his father describing “permitting issues” (231)?
2. What image does the narrator report BEG uses to conceive of the United States?
3. How does the narrator describe Booker T. Elementary when he follows Nigel there?
4. How does the narrator characterize his relationship with Nigel after having drugged him (261)?
5. What reasons does the narrator give for disliking Araminta?
6. What does the narrator’s grandfather report as the effect when “those problems done piled up on me” (137)?
7. How is “the original ADZE” described (218)?
8. What reason does the narrator give for beginning to learn American Sign Language?
9. What reasoning does Supercargo give for resigning from BEG?
10. What reasons does the narrator give for liking the Mall of the Seven Myrtles?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Consider the following comment:
What was it about people who were late of the Motherland [Africa]? There was something about the cant of their cheeks and noses that made them instantly recognizable in relief to run-of-the-mill African Americans like myself. I guessed that people like this nurse’s ancestors were history’s victors, the lucky souls who had avoided the Middle Passage and miscegenation. Coffee never diluted by creamer (151).
Is the narrator’s assertion of luckiness accurate? What in the novel and in documented history suggests that it is or is not? How does it do so?
Essay Topic 2
Early on, the narrator notes the contents of Octavia’s library, which include Eyes without a Face, The Hip Hop Ontologist’s View of Leda and the Swan, and Blackstone’s Law; Octavia notes that the books are “real, but mainly for effect” (8). What effect are they likely to have, and why?
Essay Topic 3
Explicate the following passage (93):
We passed an open unit where tidy-looking white people in business casual clothing sat upright on a couch. One man, his hair neatly parted, loosely lolled his head. The women on either side of him were zonked out also. One of the boys from the hallway checked his device clock and stepped into the unit. The Tiko was a good place to find your jollies for those with free right-of-access. Fly in from out of town. Stop at the Tiko for a tune-up and make your noon meeting with time to spare.
This section contains 770 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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