Black Boy Test
1. In his early childhood and youth, how did Richard react to submission of other black Americans to
white authority?
a. With insensitive contempt b. With understanding
c. With approval d. None of the above
2. What religious denomination did Richard's grandmother belong to?
a. The Southern Baptists b. The Methodists
c. The Seventh Day Adventists d. The Unitarians
3. How would Richard's relationship with his maternal grandmother best be described?
a. It was affectionate.
b. They didn’t interact much at all.
c. They didn't have a relationship because she died before he was born.
d. It was filled with conflict and hostility.
4. How would Richard's education best be described?
a. Entirely self-acquired.
b. Composed of sporadic formal schooling and a lot of self-acquired knowledge through reading.
c. Graduated from elementary school only.
d. Finished and graduated from high school.
5. How did Richard react to his mother's first stroke?
a. He just accepted life, both good and bad, as it happened to him.
b. He became extremely religious because the church offered him comfort and security
c. He developed close ties with the black community and his family because they offered generous emotional/financial support
d. None of the above.
6. How would Richard's childhood best be described?
a. His childhood was characterized by grinding poverty.
b. His childhood was characterized by isolation and loneliness.
c. His childhood was characterized by frequent, sudden moves.
d. All of the above.
7. How would Richard's adult attitude toward his father best be described?
a. He hated his father.
b. He pitied his father for the emotional and economic impoverishment caused him by racism.
c. He was afraid of his father even as an adult.
d. He loved his father deeply because they became close when Richard was an adult.
8. Who was Richard's favorite aunt?
a. Aunt Addie b. Addie Cleo c. Aunt Maggie d. Aunt Jody
9. How would Richard's relationship with his mother best be described?
a. It was often full of conflict, but she was the most loving
b. There was constant conflict and hostility.
c. It was loving and supportive.
d. None of the above.
10. Who was the first person who encouraged Richard when he published his first story in the local
newspaper?
a. His mother b. The newspaper editor c. His school principal d. His Aunt Maggie
11. What happened when Richard entered the working world?
a. He was harassed and abused by his white co-workers.
b. He was fired for not acting the "nigger."
c. He came to better understand why many black Americans submitted to white authority.
d. All of the above.
12. Why was Richard reluctant to steal?
a. He believed that it played to the expectations of racist whites.
b. He was strictly religious, so he considered it a sin.
c. He feared that his co-workers would disapprove if they found out.
d. All of the above.
13. Why couldn't Richard check books out of the Memphis public library?
a. The librarian was racist, so she denied his application for a library card.
b. None of Richard's co-workers would lend him a library card.
c. The public library did not allow black citizens to get library cards.
d. None of the above.
14. Which of the following is an example of the theme of isolation?
a. The South Side section communists throw Richard out of the May Day Parade.
b. Richard is afraid to tell his boss at the cafe that Tillie is spitting in the food.
c. Leon leaves with Aunt Maggie for the north when Ella becomes extremely ill.
d. To Richard, Granny looks like she is a white as a white person.
15. Richard's grandfather is embittered and disappointed because:
a. He never received his pension for his service in the military.
b. His life insurance policy was never awarded to him because of a false policy.
c. He has no properly raised grandchildren who are proud of their heritage.
d. He knows that he is terminally ill and about to pass away without having accomplished his goal
of becoming a writer.
16. What aspect of the Communist speakers in Washington Park baffles and angers Richard?
a. Their deliberately careless personal appearance.
b. The fact that they preached falsely and ignorantly.
c. The Communists had promised to bring Richard into their literary circle.
d. Their lack of courage and wisdom.
17. Why does Richard begin to bootleg liquor in the hotel?
a. To come into close proximity of the white prostitutes.
b. To have the satisfaction of walking past a white policeman, knowing he was breaking the law.
c. To amass a substantial amount of money.
d. To escape the Jim Crow laws by not obeying the laws set by whites.
18. Complete the following passage regarding the white waitresses at the Chicago cafe where Richard
works: "I did not feel any __________ for the girls, nor any __________. For the most part I was silent with them, though I knew that I had a firmer grasp of life than most of them."
a. love; hate b. admiration; hate c. admiration; disgust d. pain; envy
19. What is the title of Comrade Young's document of the history of the human race?
a. The Voodoo of Hell's Half-Acre b. A Pictorial Record of Man's Economic Process
c. A Marxist View of Man's Evolution d. The Human Race: Emotions and Politics
20. Identify the speaker of the following passage: "I'm not trying to fight you with my writing. I've no
political ambitions. I'm not trying to hurt or help any particular comrade."
a. Buddy Nealson b. Richard Wright c. Ross d. Comrade Young
21. Why does Richard want to be a Communist?
a. He feels that Communism promotes a sense of unity among the black community, which he has
never felt before.
b. Richard's lifestyle is suited by the non-materialistic ideas of the Communist Party.
c. He wants to shape people's feelings and awaken their cultural and emotional selves.
d. He feels that Communism has a strong potential as an ideology that will help overcome ignorance.
22. Why does Richard feel that Uncle Tom has no right to punish or beat him?
a. Richard feels isolated from his relatives and that Uncle Tom broke the barrier of his isolation.
b. Uncle Tom treats Richard as if he were a black servant on a plantation by breaking his spirit.
c. Uncle Tom is considered a traitor to the Communist Party, a Trotskyite.
d. Richard's violent nature has taught him to fight in order to be accepted, and so he behaves
similarly with his relatives.
23. According to Richard , how is black culture transmitted from one household to another?
a. Through their belief in God.
b. By insurance agents who go door-to-door selling policies and sharing information.
c. Through conversation within the gang.
d. From within the workplace.
24. When Richard is fifteen, why does he begin to falter in his schoolwork?
a. He decides to socialize with a gang. b. He doesn't understand what the teacher is saying.
c. He needs but can't afford glasses. d. He is not physically strong enough.
25. Why does Richard decide to interview Ross?
a. To gather information for a book of biographical sketches.
b. Because he feels he does not have a large grasp on common Negro culture.
c. As part of a project for the Communist movement.
d. All of the above.
26. Why does Richard move to live with his grandmother?
a. Ella has a stroke and falls too ill to take care of him.
b. His grandmother lives closer to Jackson, where his father is stationed.
c. He has always wanted to see the North.
d. It is easier for him to obtain a job when living with his grandmother.
27. Who warns his children not to speak with Richard?
a. Uncle Hoskins b. Uncle Clark c. Uncle Tom d. Brother Mance
28. Where was Richard Wright born?
a. Mississippi b. Missouri c. Louisiana d. Illinois
29. What does Richard's mother do when he tells her that he is hungry?
a. She tells him to "catch a kungry." b. She gives him lard and gravy.
c. She tells him to go out and find a job. d. She tells him to live with his grandmother.
30. Complete the following passage: "Money, God, race, sex, war, planes, machines, swimming, boxing,
anything...The ____________ of one black household was thus transmitted to another black
household..."
a. hatred b. folk tradition c. culture d. attitudes
31. Before Richard gives his graduation speech, what does he do in preparation?
a. Ask the principal to edit his speech. b. Pray to God for forgiveness and hope.
c. Purchase a long-pants suit. d. Write his speech on blank, white paper.
32. After Richard's first day at Howard Institute, what does he learn?
a. How to fight. b. How to drink. c. New swear words. d. How to play "pop the whip."
33. What effect does Wright achieve by splitting Black Boy into two parts?
a. Wright emphasizes the duality between the North and the South.
b. Wright is able to reflect upon the theme of isolation.
c. It symbolizes the two sides of Richard's personality.
d. None of the above.
34. Who does Mr. Olin pay Richard to fight with?
a. Griggs b. Harrison c. Brande d. Leon
35. What is Richard's first impression of Mrs. Ross?
a. He thinks she is a prostitute.
b. Mrs. Moss appears too much of an intellectual for Richard's taste.
c. Richard hates her simple appearance.
d. None of the above.
36. Which event is symbolic of the "death" of Richard's relationship with his mother?
a. When she makes him bury the kitten he killed.
b. When Richard confronts his mother to apply for a job of delivering newspapers.
c. When Richard refuses to be baptized.
d. when she suffers from a paralyzing stroke and is carried off for an operation.
37. From who is Richard isolated?
a. His relatives b. His schoolmates c. White people d. All of the above
38. According to Wright, it is most accepted for black men to talk about which of the following in the
presence of whites?
a. Sex and religion b. Politics and sex c. Family and religion d. Family and money
39. Richard's first attempt at writing is a short story about:
a. A young black boy growing up in the South
b. A young Indian girl who commits suicide by drowning herself.
c. An old retired army general who does nothing but sit and cry.
d. An old man who kills himself with a gun.
40. Which of the following passages exemplifies Wright's theme of questioning man's existence?
a. "I asked myself if these human qualities were not fostered, won, struggled and suffered for preserved in ritual from one generation to another."
b. "For the most part I never thought of them; they simply existed somewhere in the background
of the city as a whole."
c. "Had I known just how my words struck them, I would have remained still and taken my
punishment, but it was the feeling that anything could or would happen to me that made me wild
with fear."
d. "Ought one to surrender to authority even if one believed that authority was wrong?"