Read the following excerpt from "The Yellow Peril and the Dockers" by Leon Lopez (Claude McKay) before you choose your answer.




"Despair was written in great large letters all over their faces: still they waited, hope against hope. We almost forgot our own pressing troubles as we made our way through the pitiful body of strong men, willing, eager to sell themselves to the merciless and intrenched employers for bread: yet refused a chance to toil on the docks that are stored with fine cloth and good food, while their wives and children are in rags and starving." 




Which of the following lines is used figuratively?




-"still they waited, hope against hope"




-"Despair was written in great large letters"




-"stored with fine cloth and good food"




-"yet refused a chance to toil on the docks"




2. 

Read the following excerpt from "Dark Tower" by Countee Cullen before you choose your answer. 

 

"That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; 

Not everlastingly while others sleep 

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, 

Not always bend to some more subtle brute. 

We were not made eternally to weep." 

 

According to the speaker, the oppressed 




-accept, even embrace, a life of sorrow




-have earned the difficulties they face




-deserve contentment, not sorrow




-are unaware of their own suffering




3.Read the following excerpt from "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes before you choose your answer. 




"The instructor said, 




Go home and write 

a page tonight. 

And let that page come out of you— 

Then, it will be true. 




I wonder if it's that simple? 

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. 

I went to school there, then Durham, then here 

to this college on the hill above Harlem." 




In this excerpt, the author uses italics to 




-suggest an underlying motivation on behalf of the instructor




-signify the importance of the assignment to the student's success




-emphasize the difficulty of the assignment length and expectations




-indicate the separation of the instructor's words and speaker's thoughts




4.Read the following excerpt from "Dark Tower" by Claude McKay before you choose your answer. 

 

"We shall not always plant while others reap 

The golden increment of bursting fruit, 

Nor always countenance, abject and mute, 

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; 

Not everlastingly while others sleep 

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, 

Not always bend to some more subtle brute. 

We were not made eternally to weep. 

 

The night, whose sable breast relieves the stark, 

White stars, is no less lovely being dark; 

And there are buds that cannot bloom at all 

In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall. 

So in the dark we hid the heart that bleeds, 

And wait, and tend our agonizing needs." 

 

In context, the expression "beguile their limbs," is best interpreted as 




-to deceive and pacify




-to disturb and punish




-to exact revenge




-to comfort and appease




5. 

Read the following excerpt from "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes before you choose your answer. 

 

"I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. 

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. 

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. 

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln 

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy 

bosom turn all golden in the sunset." 

 

The author's tone is best described as 




-harsh and strident




-informal yet analytical




-concerned yet hopeful




-reflective and melancholy




Read the following excerpt from "The Yellow Peril and the Dockers" by Leon Lopez (Claude McKay) before you choose your answer. 

 

"The dockers, instead of being unduly concerned about the presence of their coloured fellow men, who like themselves are the victims of capitalism and civilisation, should turn their attention to the huge stores of wealth along the water front. The country's riches are not in the West End, in the palatial houses of the suburbs; they are stored in the East End, and the jobless should lead the attack on the bastilles, the bonded warehouses along the docks to solve the question of unemployment." 

 

The author's tone is best described as 




harsh and strident




passionate and analytical




contemplative and conciliatory




sentimental and mournful




 

Read the following poem "America" by Claude McKay before you choose your answer. 

 

"Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, 

And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth, 

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess 

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth. 

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood, 

Giving me strength erect against her hate, 

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood. 

Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state, 

I stand within her walls with not a shred 

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. 

Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, 

And see her might and granite wonders there, 

Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand, 

Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand." 

 

Which of the following best describes the poem as a whole? 




A humorous satire of American culture




A poetic expression describing the endurance of African-Americans




A poignant description of the strengths and faults of America




A philosophical rant blasting ignorance in America

9. 

Read the following passages before you choose your answer. 




Passage One: From "Dark Tower" by Countee Cullen 




"Nor always countenance, abject and mute, 

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; 

Not everlastingly while others sleep 

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, 

Not always bend to some more subtle brute. 

We were not made eternally to weep." 




Passage Two: From "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes 




"Being me, it will not be white. 

But it will be 

a part of you, instructor. 

You are white— 

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. 

That's American. 

Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me. 

Nor do I often want to be a part of you. 

But we are, that's true! 

As I learn from you, 

I guess you learn from me— 

although you're older—and white—

and somewhat more free." 




Which statement best describes the relationship between the two passages? 




Passage One portrays a discontent speaker, while Passage Two portrays a contemplative speaker.




Passage One portrays the speaker as content, while Passage Two portrays the speaker as disgusted.




Passage One and Passage Two both focus on the reciprocal relationship between the races.




Passage One and Passage Two both portray a bitter, jaded response to inequality among races.

10. 

Read the following passages before you choose your answer. 

 

Passage One: From "The Criteria of Negro Art" by W.E.B. Du Bois 

 

"Thus all Art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and say that whatever art I have for writing has been used always for propaganda for gaining the right of black folk to love and enjoy. I do not care for any art that is not used for propaganda. But I do care when propaganda is confined to one side while the other is stripped and silent." 

 

Passage Two: From "How It Feels to be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston 

 

"But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all but about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. 

 

Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said 'On the line!' The Reconstruction said 'Get set!' and the generation before said 'Go!' I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep..." 

 

Which statement best describes the relationship between the two passages? 




Passage Two summarizes Passage One's claim.




Passage Two is an example of Passage One's claim.




Passage Two is unrelated to Passage One's claim.




Passage Two contradicts Passage One's claim.

1.  
2.