Literatures in English- American and Postcolonial | Set 1
1. Which sentence tells the main idea of “I Hear America Singing”?
Correct : C. all different kinds of people come together to make america what it is.
2. Read the lines from “I Hear America Singing.”
“The day what belongs to the day-At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, /Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.” What does the word robust mean?
Correct : B. full of health
3. What is the point of view used in “I Hear America Singing”?
Correct : B. second person
4. What is most likely the poet’s purpose for writing “I Hear America
Singing”?
Correct : D. to give a lively description of people working in american
5. Read the line from “I Hear America Singing”
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear” This is an example of
Correct : C. personification.
6. Read the line from “I Hear America Singing.”
“The carpenter singing his, as he measure his plank or beam” The word beam in this sentence means
Correct : B. a piece of wood used in construction.
7. In “I Hear America Singing,” the poet probably described people at work
because
Correct : D. he saw america as a country that was prospering.
8. Which sentence from “Walt Whitman” supports the idea that Whitman
wrote poetry for everyday Americans?
Correct : C. “for example, he liked to write about families and workers who had moved from the farms to the city.”
9. Which is a detail from “Walt Whitman”?
Correct : A. whitman worked for martin van buren’s presidential campaign.
10. By reading both the poem and the passage, you can tell that Walt
Whitman was
Correct : D. a professional singer.
11. The characters in “I Hear America Singing” are similar to Walt Whitman in that they
Correct : B. are mechanics and shoemakers.
12. The biographical text tells us that Whitman “set out to define the
American experience.” How did he approach this daunting task?
Correct : D. with the assumption that his work would result in him being a person
13. What major events in the world around influenced Whitman’s writing the most?
Correct : A. discrimination against african americans and the birth of the harlem renaissance
14. In his poem, Whitman describes both the mechanics and their songs as
“blithe.” In this sense, blithe means
Correct : B. nostalgic or reminiscent
15. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the poem?
Correct : C. everyone in america has their own “song” to sing
16. The tone of “I Hear America Singing” can be best described as
Correct : D. inspirational
17. The biographical text tells that it was the people that Langston Hughes
called the “low down folks” who had the greatest influence in his poetry. This phrase refers to people who were
Correct : A. african american
18. What is Langston Hughes known for?
Correct : C. all of these answers are correct
19. In his poem, Hughes characterizes the speaker as
Correct : C. an innocent child harmed by the discrimination he has experienced
20. Based on the titles of each poem, what statement is Hughes trying to
make in response to Whitman’s poem?
Correct : B. both authors have great love for their country and mankind
21. What is Snopes's occupation in 'Barn Burning'?
Correct : D. sharecropper.
22. What is Snopes accused of?
Correct : A. arson.
23. What is the name of Snopes's boss?
Correct : A. major harold.
24. The quality of Romanticism most clearly illustrated in “The Fall of the
House of Usher” is an interest in
Correct : D. irrational or mystical elements of the world
25. The basic facts of the story include all of the following with one exception.
Which of these statements is in error?
Correct : B. roderick has a twin sister who dies of a cataleptic seizure the first night.
26. The story emphasizes from the start a major parallel, one that involves
Correct : D. a poem and an event
27. Before he enters the Usher mansion, the narrator notes “a barely
imperceptible fissure” in the building, an example of
Correct : A. foreshadowing
28. Roderick Usher, the narrator discovers, is all of the following except
Correct : D. bedridden
29. Which of the following events does not occur at the end of the story?
Correct : B. madeline enters roderick’s presence and strangles him before she dies.
30. Which of the following is true of the story?
Correct : A. roderick was a victim of paralysis and was bedridden most of his life.
31. The total collapse of the Usher mansion at the end of the story best supports the idea that:
Correct : B. an overactive imagination can terrify a person with illusions.
32. A theme of the story is how:
Correct : C. a person who is cut off from the world can fall prey to another’s fears.
33. Which of the following quotations supports the statement that this story is
about how the imagination distorts reality?
Correct : B. “. . . for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this instance, i did actually hear . . . a low and apparently distant . . . sound . . .”
34. The main character is a salesman who, after thirty four years with the
company, has been taken off salary and is experiencing some personal and financial difficulties. What is his name?
Correct : A. his name is willy loman
35. Who is Willy's wife?
Correct : C. her name is linda.
36. What happened to Willy after he got a little above Yonkers?
Correct : B. he forgot he was driving and ran off the road.
37. What is Linda's reaction to Willy's complaints about himself?
Correct : D. she makes excuses for him.
38. Who are Biff and Happy?
Correct : B. they are willy's sons. neither is very settled or responsible.
39. What seems to be the problem between Biff and Willy?
Correct : D. biff is unsettled and hasn't made anything of himself yet, and this distress willy.
40. Why doesn't Happy go west with Biff?
Correct : C. he wants to show the executives in his company that he can make the grade.
41. What does Biff want from Bill Oliver?
Correct : A. he wants money to buy a ranch.
42. Why did Biff stop working for Bill Oliver?
Correct : B. biff suspected bill knew he had stolen basketball.
43. Happy says, "I don't know what to do about him [Willy], it's getting
embarrassing." What is he referring to?
Correct : D. he is referring to willy's mental lapses into a dream world.
44. What does Happy's thinking tell you about his character?
Correct : B. it shows that happy is more concerned about his own welfare than willy's health.
45. Why does Willy talk so much about the car?
Correct : C. he had a bad experience in his car today, and the old car is a happy experience from the past.
46. Where did Biff get the football?
Correct : A. biff had stolen it from school.
47. What does Willy tell Linda about his business?
Correct : D. b& c
48. Who is The Woman?
Correct : B. someone with whom willy had a brief affair
49. What does Willy mean, "I'll make it up to you, Linda, I'll --"? What does
Linda think he means?
Correct : A. willy means that he'll make up for his infidelity, linda thinks he is talking about his business and will try to make more money for them.
50. What does Willy want young Bernard to do for Biff?
Correct : B. willy wants bernard to give biff answers for a test.
51. . Willy says, "The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it!
Walked into a jungle, and comes out, at the age of twenty one, and he rich..." About whom it he talking?
Correct : C. he is talking about ben.
52. Who is Ben?
Correct : A. he is willy's brother who apparently became very successful at a young age.
53. Who is Charley?
Correct : B. a long-time friend of willy
54. Charley says, "To hell with it. When a deposit bottle is broken, you don't get your nickel back." What does he mean?
Correct : A. one may invest a lot of time and money into a child, but if the child doesn't turn out well, you won't get any satisfaction or rewards for your time spent. but, there's no use worrying about it; you just pick up and go on with your life.
55. Charley and Willy are playing cards. Why does Charley leave?
Correct : A. willy is being rude to him and not making any sense.
56. What did Willy's father do for living different from what Willy does?
Correct : B. willy's father made flutes and sold them. willy sells someone else's product and doesn't have the pride of craftsmanship that his father did.
57. Why does Charley tell Willy "the jails are full of fearless characters"?
Correct : C. willy has just sent his sons across the road to a new construction site to steal more building supplies. willy is proud of their fearlessness, but charley sees a more practical side to it, that what the boys are doing is wrong.
58. Linda says, "Attention, attention must be paid to such a person." Explain.
Correct : A. willy deserves our attention, our interest, and caring. even though he is misguided, he is trying to muddle through life as well as he can.
59. Linda tells the boys that Willy won't be all right. When the boys ask why
he won't, what is her reply?
Correct : C. he is trying to kill himself.
60. .What advice does Willy give Biff on the evening before he goes to see Bill
Oliver? Three of the following sentences repeat some of the advice. Which does not?
Correct : D. carry a leather briefcase.
61. How much time passes in the first act?
Correct : A. one day passes.
62. From the play we get the information of Willy’s family from……………….
Correct : C. we are given information about the family from the time the children are small.
63. Where did Biff go early that morning?
Correct : B. he went to see mr. oliver.
64. What did Willy resolve to talk about with Howard?
Correct : D. he resolved to talk about the new york job.
65. What is the result of Willy's conversation with Howard?
Correct : A. willy is fired.
66. "You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away -- a man isn't a piece of
fruit!" Explain why Willy said that
Correct : C. he has spent the best years of his life working for the company, and now, in his old age, they are letting him go since there is no use for him.
67. "This is no time for false pride, Willy. . . . You've got two great boys, haven't you?" Now that Willy really needs the boys, the reality of their
worthlessness crushes his idealized version, and Willy is in a Catch-22, no win situation. Which literary element is being used here?
Correct : D. this is irony.
68. Why didn't Willy go with Ben years ago when Ben offered him a job?
Correct : B. he had inflated his own business worth to linda, so that when the opportunity came, linda didn't see the need, since willy was already on such a great career path.
69. Where does Willy go after his conversation with Howard?
Correct : D. he goes to see charley for money to cover his life insurance premium payment.
70. Willy wants to find out what went wrong with Biff, why he didn't do
anything with his life after the age of 17. Who does he ask?
Correct : A. he asks bernard.
71. What reply does he receive?
Correct : C. biff was ready to go to summer school to make up the math class, but when he returned from boston, he gave up.
72. Why can't Willy work for Charley?
Correct : A. charley stands for the things willy does not believe in; if willy would work for charley, he would admit that his whole life had been wrong.
73. Biff says, ". . . I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been."
What does he mean?
Correct : B. he realized that he was raised on a false philosophy and that most of the things that happened were glossed over and made far better than they were. bill realized that he was a clerk and a thief.
74. What does Happy want Biff to tell Willy?
Correct : A. he wants biff to paint a glossy picture of the meeting with oliver instead of telling the truth.
75. Willy says, ". . . the woods are burning, boys. Can't you understand?
There's a big blaze going on all around." What does that mean?
Correct : C. willy's world is falling apart. he had lost his job and has no resources. he is getting trapped by the years of lies he has liv
76. What did Biff take from Bill Oliver?
Correct : B. he took a fountain pen.
77. Identify Miss Forsythe and Letta.
Correct : A. they are women who come into the restaurant. happy is more interested in getting a date with them than in the welfare of his own father.
78. Where does Willy go?
Correct : C. he goes to the restroom to compose himself.
79. What is Biffs’ opinion of his father now, when he tells it to Miss Forsythe?
Correct : B. biff says he is a "fine, troubled prince."
80. Why can't Biff help Willy?
Correct : D. they both get frustrated and yell at each other.
81. Happy denies that Willy is his father. Why?
Correct : A. happy doesn't want the responsibility of caring for willy.
82. What happened in Boston? What do we finally find out is the problem, the
secret between Willy and Biff?
Correct : C. biff went to talk to his father and walked in on willy and the woman with whom he was having an affair.
83. Why did Biff go to Boston in the first place?
Correct : D. he went to ask willy to talk his teacher into changing a grade so he wouldn't have to go to summer school.
84. Where does Willy go after he realizes that the boys have left him at the
restaurant?
Correct : B. he buys some carrot seeds for his garden and goes home to plant them.
85. Why does Willy decide to kill himself?
Correct : A. he can leave a lot of insurance money to biff if his death looks like an accident. then biff will have a chance to be successful.
86. What does Biff want to tell Willy before he is ready to go?
Correct : C. he wants to tell willy that he (biff) is nothing, that he accepts that now, and that he has no hard feelings towards willy.
87. Biff says, "Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something
happens?" What is the significance of this line?
Correct : B. it foreshadows willy's death.
88. What is Willy's response to Biffs’ whole scene when Biff ends up crying?
Correct : C. he thinks it is remarkable that biff actually likes him.
89. Ben says, "The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy." Explain.
Correct : B. the jungle represents death; the diamonds are the insurance money.
90. What does Willy do?
Correct : A. he speeds away in his car and has a fatal car accident.
91. Biff realizes that Willy's philosophy was wrong, and most of Willy's life
was made up of illusion. What does he say?
Correct : C. "he had all the wrong dreams. all, all wrong."
92. Why is the car an appropriate device?
Correct : D. it is a symbol of willy's philosophy for success in life in general.
93. Biff represented University of___________________.
Correct : B. virginia
94. The first edition of Orientalism appeared in the year.
Correct : B. 1978
95. Who is considered the father of free verse?
Correct : A. walt whiteman
96. What is the title of the poem by Walter Whiteman?
Correct : B. i hear america singing
97. What is the title of the poem by Wallace Stevens?
Correct : A. anecdote of the jar
98. Where is the jar placed on?
Correct : B. upon a hill
99. ‘Anecdote of a Jar’ is a metaphor to represent
Correct : C. art
100. In the poem ‘Anecdote of Jar’ , the jar represents