Question bank to study
LITERARY ANALYSIS
1. For what purpose might the author have written this section of Dust Tracks on
a Road?
a. to show that she often did things that frightened her grandmother
b. to show that she was willing to take advice from whites
c. to show that she was going to be her own person in life
d. to show that her grandmother influenced her greatly
2. Hurston in Dust Tracks on a Road carefully describes her reading likes and
dislikes for the purpose of…
a. persuading others that reading is important.
b. revealing her character and personality.
c. helping children choose appropriate books.
d. showing that she liked the same things white people did.
3. Which sentence from “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters” shows
foreshadowing that tells you that something is going to happen?
a. “She left him in his chair and went to make the beds.”
b. “He could tell something was up.”
c. “She slipped her feet into flat-heeled loafers.”
d. “They went down the stairs slowly.”
4. What does this information from “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters”
foreshadow: “he was strong, wiry; he was getting to be too much for her”?
a. Bet will live at the institution where she can help Arnold.
b. Bet will be unable to continue caring for Arnold on her own.
c. Arnold will be strong when he becomes an adult.
d. Arnold is a burden, and Bet will be happy to get rid of him.
5. What is one of the characteristics that makes The Woman Warrior a memoir?
a. It is about people who come to America.
b. It is about how American children behave.
c. It is about saving money on lunch.
d. It is about an important personal event.
6. This selection from The Woman Warrior focuses mainly on the personal
impressions of which character?
a. Brave Orchid‟s niece
b. Brave Orchid‟s daughter
c. Brave Orchid
d. Moon Orchid
7. How does background information provided about Brave Orchid‟s life explain
why she might have strong feelings against the idea of her son and other
young men going to fight in Vietnam?
a. She has always been an anti-war activist.
b. Since she went to so much trouble to come to America, she feels her
son should remain with her.
c. She does not believe in the war being fought in Vietnam.
d. She fled a war-torn China, so she knows the harsh realities of war firsthand.
8. What is one main reason why this selection from The Woman Warrior might
be considered different from traditional memoirs?
a. It is nonfiction.
b. It is written in the third person and focuses on the personal impressions
of someone other than the writer.
c. It is about a significant personal experience.
d. It is written in the first person and focuses on the personal impressions
of the writer.
9. The motivation of the mother in “Everyday Use” is that she fantasizes about a
loving reunion between Dee, Maggie and herself. Why does she long for this
fantasy to come true?
a. She and Dee are close.
b. She and Dee are not close.
c. Maggie and Dee are close.
d. She likes Dee‟s new name.
10. What motivates the narrator to give Maggie the quilts?
a. Wangero does not like them.
b. Maggie knows how to make them.
c. Maggie is more deserving than her sister.
d. Maggie wants them more than her sister does.
11. What motivates Dee to read to her mother and sister in “Everyday Use”?
a. to entertain them
b. to show her superiority
c. to teach her mother to read
d. to teach Maggie to read
VOCABULARY
12. Which word best replaces capers in this sentence: “The students were told to
avoid doing any capers when visitors came to the class”?
a. reading
b. boredom
c. tricks
d. standing
13. Which event is the best example of a caper?
a. Zora‟s friends snickering so she could hear them when she is called to
Mr. Calhoun‟s desk
b. the white ladies telling Zora not to open her cylinder-shaped present
until she got home
c. Zora reading the myth of Pluto and Persephone to the visitors
d. Zora hailing white travelers from her gatepost
14. Which word best describes the opposite of Bet‟s physical appearance in
“Average Waves in Unprotected Waters”?
a. orthopedic
b. stocky
c. staunch
d. transparent
15. Which item or object on the train ride would be transparent?
a. train window
c. Arnold‟s suitcase
b. stick of gum
d. cookie
16. Which word best replaces gravity in this sentence: “The child became aware
of the gravity of the situation when her parents told her not to laugh”?
a. seriousness
c. sound
b. humor
d. crowd
17. Which word best replaces doctrines in this sentence: “The young man
explained the doctrines he had been raised with”?
a. emotions
b. religious beliefs
c. people
d. history books
18. It was not ___ that made Zora take such delight in the gift of pennies, but
rather their beauty.
a. brazenness
c. poverty
b. foreknowledge
d. avarice
19. Usually, Zora‟s school had some ___ when people were going to visit, but not
when the two white ladies from Minnesota came.
a. avarice
c. foreknowledge
b. preparations
d. fears
20. Brave Orchid felt the soldiers waiting to go to war should be crying ___
instead of standing there calmly.
a. inaudibly
b. cautiously
c. obviously
d. hysterically
21. The Word doctrines means…
a. honorary degrees
b. visiting teachers or professors
c. meek personalities
d. beliefs or rules that are taught
READING COMPREHENSION
From Dust Tracks on a Road
22. Why were the white women so impressed with Hurston?
a. She was a good reader.
b. She had on a new dress.
c. She was very polite to them.
d. She had clean fingernails.
23. What kind of literature did the young Hurston like best that made her think of
heroic deeds?
a. stories that were sad
b. stories of math geniuses
c. stories that were great myths
d. stories about young women
24. Hurston says in Dust Tracks on a Road: “I hated things I couldn‟t do anything
about.” What does this statement tell you about her character?
a. She didn‟t like any of her teachers.
b. She didn‟t like not having power.
c. She didn‟t like sitting in school.
d. She didn‟t like making decisions.
From Average Waves in Unprotected Waters
25. Where are Bet and Arnold going?
a. to Arnold‟s school
c. to a mental institution
b. to Bet‟s workplace
d. to the doctor
26. Which event happens first in “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters”?
a. Bet says goodbye to Arnold.
b. Bet and Arnold take a train.
c. Bet leaves the hospital alone.
d. Bet dresses Arnold.
27. Which event happens last in “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters”?
a. Bet speaks to a nurse at the hospital.
b. Bet takes a taxi to the train station.
c. Mrs. Puckett gives Arnold some cookies.
d. Bet listens to a speech at the train station.
28. In “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters,” why is Bet so upset that she will
have to wait twenty minutes to take the train back home?
a. She has nothing to read.
b. She hates waiting for trains.
c. She is afraid she‟ll change her mind.
d. She doesn‟t want to get home late.
29. What is Bet‟s attitude toward her own life?
a. bitterness
c. resignation
b. anger
d. joy
From The Woman Warrior
30. What is the relationship between Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid?
a. They are mother and daughter.
b. They are aunt and niece.
c. They are sisters.
d. They are cousins.
31. What is the best description of Brave Orchid‟s feelings as she waits in the
airport?
a. anxious and uncomfortable
b. annoyed and impatient
c. happy and carefree
d. bored and indifferent
32. During which historical period does this portion of The Woman Warrior take
place?
a. during the settlement of California
b. during the Vietnam War
c. during the last few years
d. during immigration to Ellis Island
From Everyday Use
33. Who is telling the story?
a. Maggie
b. Dee
c. Maggie and Dee‟s mother
d. a character outside the story
34. Why is Maggie shy in public?
a. She does not read well.
b. She does not like her name.
c. She cannot make quilts.
d. She has been scarred in a fire.
35. Why is Maggie timid and insecure?
a. She knows that her mother loves Dee more.
b. She grew up in poverty.
c. Her mother gives away her possessions.
d. She was scarred by a fire.
36. Dee showed her love for her family by
a. asking for family heirlooms.
b. reading to them.
c. introducing her husband to them.
d. changing her name to reflect her African roots.
37. What do the specific details in this passage reveal about the narrator‟s
relationship with each of her daughters?
I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged
her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and
dumped them into Maggie’s lap.
a. The narrator loves Maggie‟s faith and is brave enough herself to
challenge Dee‟s bossy, spoiled behavior.
b. The narrator pities Maggie, but respects Dee, who has left home to
make something of herself.
c. The narrator loves Dee more than Maggie.
d. The narrator is afraid of “Miss Wangero,” who bosses both Maggie and
the narrator
38. What major difference between Maggie and Dee is revealed at the end of
“Everyday Use”?
a. what their mother means to them
b. what the quilts truly mean to them
c. how they feel about Dee‟s husband
d. how they feel about the house
GRAMMAR and STYLE
39. Which sentence contains parallel coordinate elements linked by a conjunction
such as and or but?
a. “I was observing our visitors, who had a book between them”
b. “There was no music written there, just the words.”
c. “Not only was I barefooted, but my feet and legs were dusty.”
d. “They were long and thin, and very white, except up near the tips.”
40. Which excerpt contains an example of parallelism in coordinate elements?
a. “But I knew better than to bring that up right there, so I said yes, I loved
school.”
b. “Perhaps a year before the old man died, I came to know two other
white people for myself.”
c. “But the books gave me more pleasure than the clothes.”
d. “He put his hand on my shoulder and gave me little pats.”
41. Which sentence contains an error in parallelism?
a. The author‟s purpose was to tell about her childhood, describe her
community, and give insight into her character.
b. Zora went off to see the ladies scrubbed, clad in a gingham dress, and
her hair tied by a red ribbon.
c. Zora didn‟t know whether Hennie, Stell, or someone else had laughed
loudest.
d. The white visitors were kind and sympathetic, but curious.
42. In the taxi, Bet wept ___ because she felt ___ about leaving Arnold.
a. uncontrollable; bad
c. uncontrollably; bad
b. uncontrollable; badly
d. uncontrollably; badly
43. Which sentence correctly uses double and single quotation marks?
a. „Don‟t walk too close to the edge,‟ she called.
b. “As an „exceptional student,‟ I can leave early,” smiled Jack.
c. „The winner of the “Kindness” award is Ahmed,‟ she said.
d. “Do you remember the “War on Poverty,”” she asked?
44. Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
a. Brave Orchid‟s niece said, “Did you hear me call out, Mama”?
b. Brave Orchid said, “I know the captain will say, „Abandon ship!‟”
c. Brave Orchid said, “The captain will say, „Abandon ship;‟ or he might
say Watch out for bombs.‟”
d. Moon Orchid said to her sister, “Did you say „You are old?‟”
45. Which passage from “Everyday Use” is a fragment that shows only part of a
sentence?
a. “Come out into the yard,” I say.
b. “Dee wanted nice things.”
c. “I never had an education myself.”
d. “But a real smile, not scared.”
46. Which of the following groups of words from “Everyday Use” is a sentence
fragment?
a. “I looked at her hard.”
b. “This was Maggie‟s portion.”
c. “You just don‟t understand.”
d. “But a real smile, not scared.”