A STEP BEYOND

TESTS AND ANSWERS

TEST 1

_____ 1. The "battle royal" where the black boys are made to fight each other symbolizes

A. the backwardness of southern blacks as compared with northern blacks
B. the way whites manipulate blacks by turning them against one another
C. the way things were in small southern towns 50 years ago

_____ 2. The narrator gets his identity in the first quarter of the novel by following the model of

A. the Founder and Dr. Bledsoe
B. his grandfather and Jim Trueblood
C. Mr. Norton and Mr. Emerson

_____ 3. The letters of recommendation that Dr. Bledsoe gives to the narrator really say

A. "Keep This Nigger-Boy Running"
B. "Blacks and Whites Can Become One"
C. "Separate But Equal Is Best"

_____ 4. The narrator's experience at Liberty Paints suggests that

A. whites use blacks to enhance their own superiority
B. American businesses were opposed to unionization
C. the narrator ought to work for a company owned by black people

_____ 5. The Brotherhood represents

A. white "do-gooders"
B. the Communist party
C. "the brotherhood of man"

_____ 6. The turning point at the center of the novel is the narrator's

A. witnessing of an eviction of two old people
B. decision that he has made a mistake in coming North
C. decision to move from Men's House to Mary Rambo's

_____ 7. Brother Jack's character is symbolized by his

A. limp
B. glass eye
C. business suit

_____ 8. Ras the Exhorter's ultimate goal is to

A. make blacks and whites equal
B. have all blacks return to the South
C. keep blacks and whites totally separate

_____ 9. The death of Tod Clifton is

A. totally the fault of white society
B. secretly brought about by the Brotherhood
C. in part the result of Tod's own despair of finding answers

_____ 10. The narrator ends up in a deserted coal cellar where he

A. plans to work to alleviate racism
B. tries to think through the things in his life that got him there
C. plots revenge against Bledsoe, Norton, and the Brotherhood

11. Explore the theme of "invisibility" in Invisible Man.

12. Write an essay on the symbolic use of names in the novel.

13. What view of white people emerges from a reading of Invisible Man?

14. Would you view Invisible Man as a "black" novel or a "universal" novel? Give evidence from the novel to support your opinion.

15. Analyze the role of black folk materials (jazz, Negro spirituals, folktales, dialect humor, etc.) in Invisible Man.

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