Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison Study question

Toni Morrison’s Literary Works

Beloved

Facts about Toni Morrison

➾ She was born Chloe Anthony Wofford, later shortening her name to Toni.

➾ Her maternal grandfather, John Solomon Willis, taught himself to read, inspiring her novel Song of Solomon.

➾ In first grade, she was the only African American student and the only child who already knew how to read.

➾ Due to her skill, she often helped the children of new immigrants learn to read in school.

➾ A landlord torched her family’s apartment in 1933 while they were still inside.

➾ Her mother once wrote President Franklin Roosevelt a letter complaining about insect-riddled welfare food.

➾ She changed her first name to Toni at university because classmates struggled to pronounce Chloe.

➾ As a senior editor, she groomed and published major black voices, including Muhammad Ali and Angela Davis.

➾ She wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye, secretly and compulsively as therapy for depression and isolation.

➾ She became the first African American woman to hold a named chair at an Ivy League university (Princeton).

➾ Her masterpiece, Beloved, was inspired by a nineteenth-century clipping she found while researching The Black Book.

Toni Morrison MCQs

1. When was Chloe Anthony Wofford, later known as Toni Morrison, born?

A. August 5, 1931
B. February 18, 1931
C. March 31, 1938
D. January 26, 1933

B. February 18, 1931
She was born on this date in Lorain, Ohio.

2. Where was Toni Morrison born?

A. New York City, NY
B. Lorain, Ohio
C. Washington, D.C.
D. Syracuse, NY

B. Lorain, Ohio
She was born in this working-class Ohio town.

3. What was Toni Morrison’s birth name?

A. Ramah Willis
B. Toni Wofford
C. Chloe Anthony Wofford
D. Lois Wofford

C. Chloe Anthony Wofford
She adopted ‘Toni’ (from her confirmation name, Anthony) in college.

4. What novel was based on the short story Toni Morrison wrote while married to Harold Morrison?

A. Song of Solomon
B. Sula
C. Beloved
D. The Bluest Eye

D. The Bluest Eye
The story about a black girl wishing for blue eyes became her 1970 debut novel.

5. Which novel, chronologically, is the last work listed?

A. Home (2012)
B. Love (2003)
C. God Help the Child (2015)
D. A Mercy (2008)

C. God Help the Child (2015)
This novel, published in 2015, was her final novel.

6. What genre is Toni Morrison primarily known for creating a literary language within?

A. Southern Gothic
B. Autobiographical memoirs
C. African American fiction
D. Historical poetry

C. African American fiction
Her work defined the contemporary landscape for black American narrative.

7. For which reason is Toni Morrison considered a major architect in American literature?

A. First black woman to chair at an Ivy League
B. Wrote interracial bestsellers
C. Created a black literary language
D. Was a Random House editor

C. Created a black literary language
Her aesthetic centered the black experience using black vernacular and oral traditions.

8. In what year did Toni Morrison receive the Nobel Prize in Literature?

A. 1987
B. 1992
C. 1993
D. 2012

C. 1993
She became the first African American woman to win the award.

9. Which novel, often considered her masterpiece, won the Pulitzer Prize?

A. Song of Solomon
B. Sula
C. Beloved
D. Tar Baby

C. Beloved
*Beloved* (1987) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.

10. What nickname have critics given Toni Morrison due to her ability to draw on collective consciousness and oral traditions?

A. The Story Weaver
B. The Midwest Matrix
C. The Literary Archeologist
D. The Conjure Woman

D. The Conjure Woman
This reflects the magical, mythical, and rooted elements of her storytelling.

11. Where did Toni Morrison obtain her B.A. in English in 1953?

A. Cornell University
B. Princeton University
C. Howard University
D. Texas Southern University

C. Howard University
Toni Morrison earned her B.A. in English from Howard University, a historically Black university (HBCU) located in Washington, D.C.

12. What was Toni Morrison’s minor field of study at Howard University?

A. Mathematics
B. African American Studies
C. Classics
D. History

C. Classics
Her study of Greek and Roman classics informed her narrative structures.

13. Which university did Toni Morrison attend to receive her M.A. in English in 1955?

A. Harvard
B. Cornell
C. Yale
D. Princeton

B. Cornell
She earned her Master of Arts degree from Cornell University.

14. What was the focus of Toni Morrison’s master’s degree concentration?

A. Baldwin and Wright
B. Ellison and Hurston
C. Faulkner and Woolf
D. Brown and Locke

C. William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf
Her thesis compared the role of social outsiders in their works.

15. What movement influenced Toni Morrison’s family background, as her grandparents moved out of the South to Ohio?

A. The Harlem Renaissance
B. The Civil Rights Movement
C. The Great Migration
D. Post-Reconstruction

C. The Great Migration
Her family’s move north was part of this mass movement of African Americans.

16. Which grandparent’s life inspired her novel Song of Solomon?

A. John Solomon Willis (maternal)
B. George Wofford (paternal)
C. Ardelia Willis (maternal)
D. George and Ramah Wofford (parents)

A. Her maternal grandfather, John Solomon Willis.
The novel’s character searches for his great-grandfather, named Solomon.

17. Where did Morrison first work as an associate editor at Random House in 1964?

A. Lorain, Ohio
B. Syracuse, New York
C. Washington, D.C.
D. Albany, New York

B. Syracuse, New York
She started her editorial career in Syracuse after her divorce.

18. Toni Morrison left Random House in what year?

A. 1970
B. 1977
C. 1983
D. 1987

C. 1983
She left to focus on her writing and teaching career.

19. Toni Morrison was the first African American woman writer to hold a named chair at which type of institution?

A. A historically black college (HBCU)
B. A major state university
C. An Ivy League university
D. A community college

C. An Ivy League university
She held the Robert F. Goheen Professorship at Princeton University, starting in 1989.

20. What non-fiction work did Morrison publish in 1992?

A. The Black Book
B. Dreaming Emmett
C. Playing in the Dark
D. A Mercy

C. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
This essay collection explores the role of ‘whiteness’ in American literature.

21. What did essayist Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah credit Morrison with giving Black America?

A. A new language
B. A record of black culture/belonging
C. Escape from Eurocentrism
D. Financial success in literature

B. A record of gesture and custom and being and belonging
This quote emphasizes her role in preserving and affirming black culture.

22. Which politician presented Toni Morrison with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012?

A. President Jimmy Carter
B. President Franklin Roosevelt
C. President Barack Obama
D. President Bill Clinton

C. President Barack Obama
She received this high civilian honor from President Obama.

23. What does Toni Morrison confess to “[thinking]” in her exploration of infanticide in Beloved?

A. The unimaginable
B. The painful past
C. The unthinkable
D. The collective sorrow

C. The unthinkable
She explored the deepest psychological traumas of slavery.

24. What is the central assertion of Toni Morrison’s credo regarding black people?

A. They must strive for advancement
B. They are a marginal group
C. They are people, not aliens
D. They are defined by suffering

C. We are people, not aliens.
This credo emphasizes essential black humanity, rejecting marginalized views.

25. What did Morrison’s parents do for a living?

A. Father (farmer), mother (teacher)
B. Father (welder), mother (choir)
C. Father (sharecropper), mother (homemaker)
D. Parents (academics)

B. Her father was a shipyard welder, and her mother sang in the church choir.
Her parents, George and Ramah Wofford, maintained working-class jobs.

26. Which novel introduced the ambivalent main character Jadine?

A. Sula
B. Tar Baby
C. Jazz
D. Love

B. Tar Baby (1981)
This novel explores the tension between Jadine’s Westernized identity and her roots.

27. What served as a “tightly woven safety net” for Morrison when she was growing up?

A. The multiculturalism of Lorain
B. Her parents’ contrasting racial views
C. The women of the black community
D. Her integrated education

C. The women of the black community.
She cited the strong support from black women as crucial to her upbringing.

28. Which novel, influenced by her father’s death, tells the myth of slaves who fly to Africa?

A. Tar Baby
B. The Bluest Eye
C. Song of Solomon
D. Beloved

C. Song of Solomon
This 1977 novel is dedicated to her father and famously features the myth of the flying African.

29. What was the subject of Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye?

A. The life of an emancipated slave
B. A girl who desires blue eyes
C. A Caribbean island relationship
D. An all-black town in Oklahoma

B. A young girl who loses her mind and desires blue eyes.
The novel explores the internalized racism suffered by the protagonist, Pecola Breedlove.

30. In Beloved, what historical figure inspired the character Sethe?

A. Angela Davis
B. Ramah Willis Wofford
C. Margaret Garner
D. Pecola Breedlove

C. Margaret Garner
Inspired by the real-life story of an enslaved woman who killed her daughter to prevent her return to slavery.

31. In the dedication of Beloved, “sixty million and more” refers to whom?

A. The children of Lorain
B. The victims of slavery
C. The victims of infanticide
D. Those lost in the Great Migration

B. The victims of two centuries of slavery
This acknowledges the uncounted lives lost to the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery.

32. What 1974 “folk journey of Black America” did Toni Morrison compile?

A. Sula
B. The Black Book
C. Playing in the Dark
D. Jazz

B. The Black Book
This documentary compilation of black life, from slavery to the 1970s, was edited by Morrison.

33. What did research for The Black Book provide for Morrison’s later fiction?

A. Financial security
B. A cache of motifs, themes, images
C. Her first TV interview
D. Motivation to leave Random House

B. A cache of motifs, themes, and images
The documentation of historical black life served as vital research material.

34. Which novel is primarily set in 1920s Harlem?

A. Paradise
B. Jazz
C. Home
D. Tar Baby

B. Jazz (1992)
This novel focuses on the Harlem Renaissance era and the Great Migration.

35. Which novel explores the all-black town of Ruby, Oklahoma?

A. Beloved
B. Love
C. Paradise
D. A Mercy

C. Paradise (1998)
This novel explores the formation and self-destructive isolation of a Utopian black community.

36. As an editor, Toni Morrison was known for developing which group of writers?

A. European novelists
B. Black authors and figures
C. Midwest regional writers
D. White male critics

B. Black authors and figures
She helped bring black authors (like Angela Davis) to mainstream publishing.

37. What two cultural elements did Morrison draw upon, making her work “fluid and lyrical”?

A. Jazz and European classics
B. Blues and oral tradition/myth
C. Southern customs and Ohio history
D. History and political commentary

B. The blues and oral tradition/myth.
Her style integrates musical and folk forms, distinguishing her work.

38. According to Angela Davis, what did Morrison teach the world to imagine about enslaved people?

A. Their journey to the North
B. Their complex inner lives
C. Horrors of the trans-Atlantic trade
D. Their need for abolitionist aid

B. Their complex subjectivities, with full lives and interiority.
Davis praised Morrison for giving voice and depth to the inner lives of enslaved people.

39. What did Morrison attribute the initial success of The Bluest Eye to?

A. Critical acclaim
B. Company wanted a black writer
C. The compelling subject matter
D. Its inclusion in Redbook

B. The company wanted a black writer in its stable (racial reasons).
She believed her race made her attractive to publishers in that era.

40. How did Morrison handle her Midwestern setting in her writing?

A. Avoided it for the South
B. An escape from stereotyped settings
C. Criticized Lorain’s racism
D. Used it only for early works

B. She stated it was an escape from stereotyped black settings like “plantation nor ghetto”.
Her Ohio setting offered her freedom from the limited expectations placed on black novelists.

41. When Morrison was pursuing her M.A. at Cornell, she concentrated on which two authors?

A. Toni Cade Bambara and Gayl Jones
B. Shakespeare and Hawthorne
C. Faulkner and Woolf
D. Sterling Brown and Alain Locke

C. William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf
Her thesis analyzed the theme of the marginalized outsider in their work.

42. Toni Morrison’s work focuses on blackness and is told in which distinctive style?

A. Academic prose
B. Eurocentric perspective
C. Black vernacular
D. Post-modernism

C. Black vernacular
She deliberately integrated the speech patterns and rhythm of the black oral tradition.

43. Which novel secured Morrison a nomination for the National Book Award in 1974?

A. The Bluest Eye
B. Sula
C. Tar Baby
D. Beloved

B. Sula
This novel about the intense friendship between two black women was nominated in 1975.

44. Which prestigious American award did Song of Solomon win?

A. The Nobel Prize
B. Presidential Medal of Freedom
C. National Book Critics Circle Award
D. The Melcher Book Award

C. The National Book Critics Circle Award (1977).
The novel was a major critical and commercial success, winning this prize.

45. In 1986, Morrison wrote a dramatization about the murder of Emmett Till. What was its title?

A. Storyville
B. Dreaming Emmett
C. The Black Book
D. Home

B. Dreaming Emmett
This play was based on the 1955 murder that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.

46. What primary theme did Morrison explore in Beloved related to slavery?

A. Psychological effects of racism
B. The paradox of motherhood
C. Failures of the Abolitionist Movement
D. The search for black identity

B. The paradox of motherhood within slavery.
The novel focuses on the impossible choices faced by enslaved mothers.

47. Critic Nellie Y. McKay compared Morrison’s control of inner dialogue to which authors?

A. Maya Angelou and Alice Walker
B. James Joyce and William Faulkner
C. Nikki Giovanni and Angela Davis
D. Homer and Virgil

B. To James Joyce and William Faulkner.
McKay noted her modernist mastery of stream-of-consciousness.

48. When Morrison’s mother expressed alarm about her move, what did Morrison reply about community?

A. I will return soon.
B. “You take the village with you”
C. I will find a new community.
D. My writing will be my community.

B. “You take the village with you. There is no need for the community if you have a sense of it inside”.
This reflects her belief that black culture is internalized and transportable.

49. Morrison’s ability to draw on a collective consciousness led her to think of her art as what?

A. Experimental
B. Political
C. Autobiographical
D. Marginal

B. Political
She viewed the art of empowering black subjectivities as inherently political.

50. According to the Nobel Foundation, what essential aspect of American reality does Toni Morrison give life to?

A. The struggle for civil rights
B. The literary imagination of the South
C. The history that had been lost
D. An essential aspect of American reality

D. An essential aspect of American reality.
The Nobel Prize cited her work for giving life to “an essential aspect of American reality”.

Tar Baby MCQs

1. What was the setting for the beginning of the novel, characterized by magnificent winter houses?

A. Isle des Chevaliers
B. Queen of France
C. South Suzanne
D. Orange County

A. Isle des Chevaliers.
The novel opens by describing a collection of houses on the island, Isle des Chevaliers.

2. What natural element convinced the world that it had been altered after laborers cleared the land?

A. The wild parrots
B. The river
C. The champion daisy trees
D. Clouds and fish

D. Clouds and fish.
Clouds and fish believed the world was over because the permanency of the sea and sky colors had disappeared.

3. What did the natural forces eventually persuade that the world was changed?

A. The diamondbacks
B. The champion daisy trees
C. Wild parrots
D. The river

B. The champion daisy trees.
The river’s alteration finally convinced the ancient champion daisy trees that the world was permanently changed.

4. What name did the Haitians give to the exhausted river that became a swamp?

A. Sein de Vieilles
B. L’Arbe de la Croix
C. Prix de France
D. Isle des Chevaliers

A. Sein de Vieilles.
The pòor, demented stream slowed to a stop and became a swamp called Sein de Vieilles by the Haitian laborers.

5. What material was used for the beautiful, but pòorly fitted, tiles in L’Arbe de la Croix?

A. Hand-kilned tiles
B. Billy Blass sheets
C. Karastan carpet
D. Concrete blocks

A. Hand-kilned tiles.
The house featured beautiful hand-kilned tiles imported from Mexico, though they were easily loosened at a touch.

6. What was the most distinctive recent addition Valerian Street had made to the house?

A. A separate washhouse
B. A large greenhouse
C. New Mexican tile
D. Deep eaves

B. A large greenhouse.
Valerian was criticized by discriminating visitors for having gone overboard with the recent addition of a greenhouse.

7. Which specific classical music composer did Valerian settle on for plant germination?

A. Chopin
B. Haydn
C. Bach
D. Liszt

C. Bach.
Valerian experimented with music for his plants, settling on Bach’s music for the process of germination.

8. What did Sydney use Margaret Street’s nickname?

A. Philadelphia widow
B. Principal Beauty
C. Candy King
D. Copper Venus

B. Principal Beauty.
Sydney refers to Margaret multiple times using the title “the Principal Beauty,” reflecting her former beauty queen status.

9. Valerian’s first marriage ended in divorce following his wife’s reputation as what?

A. A shrew
B. A Principal Beauty
C. A termagant
D. An idiot

C. A termagant.
Valerian’s memory of his first marriage involved years of grief in the wake of a termagant.

10. What kind of candies was Valerian’s childhood namesake product?

A. Teddy Boys
B. Gingerbread boys
C. Mint and strawberry
D. Valerians

C. Mint and strawberry.
Valerians were red and white gumdrops, with white being mint-flavored and red being strawberry-flavored.

11. Why did the candy salesman suggest closing the production line of “Valerians”?

A. Too complicated
B. They tasted awful
C. Only “Jigs” bought them
D. Sugar shortage

C. Only “Jigs” bought them.
Salesmen called the candies “faggoty” and noted that only “Jigs” (an offensive term for Black people) were buying them in the South.

12. What specific body part was Valerian frequently seen touching due to pain?

A. His knee
B. His left eye
C. His temple
D. His forehead

D. His forehead.
Valerian held his forehead when discussing his son Michael’s future, seemingly overwhelmed by emotion or pain.

13. What physical objects did Margaret hope would help her avoid forgetfulness and confusion?

A. Witch hazel
B. Sleeping mask
C. Buffalo aunts
D. Dreaming the dream

D. Dreaming the dream.
Margaret hoped sleep would come so she could dream the dream she ought to, thus dispelling her occasional forgetfulness.

14. Why did Margaret believe she had the right to go back to the States with Michael?

A. She was living
B. She cut the cord
C. She was shy
D. Valerian was dying

A. She was living.
Valerian stated he was dying, but Margaret countered that she was living and thus would return with Michael.

15. What item was Michael sending ahead of his Christmas visit?

A. A red trunk
B. A Bally suit
C. A knapsack
D. A red jeep

A. A red trunk.
Michael’s trunk, described as a fire-red footlocker, had already been shipped ahead of his expected arrival.

16. How did Sydney feel about the music Valerian played in the greenhouse?

A. Nourished him
B. Set his teeth on edge
C. Made him tranquil
D. Was confined now

B. Set his teeth on edge.
Sydney had heard the music variety every day for forty years, and it set his teeth on edge.

17. What did Ondine suggest Valerian should do if he wanted Northern flowers?

A. Go back home
B. Use a greenhouse
C. Stop complaining
D. Retire at sixty-five

A. Go back home.
Ondine questioned why Valerian hauled everyone to the equator just to grow Northern flowers like hydrangeas.

18. What product did Ondine try to sneak into Valerian’s coffee for his health?

A. Cognac
B. Saccharin
C. Postum
D. Maalox

C. Postum.
Ondine sneaked Postum, a coffee substitute, into Valerian’s good coffee, believing it would help his occasional irregularity.

19. What physical problem did Sydney attribute to Valerian’s Philadelphia shoes?

A. Bunions
B. Corns
C. Swollen ankles
D. Perspiration

D. Perspiration.
Sydney argued that Philadelphia shoes made Valerian’s feet sweat in the tropics, leading to corns/bunions.

20. What object did Sydney use to try to maintain order during the dinner when Son was present?

A. A white napkin
B. A pistol
C. His bow tie
D. A wooden ladle

A. A white napkin.
Sydney used a white napkin to cover the wine stain Margaret caused during her outburst at the dinner table.

21. What action did Sydney and Ondine take together immediately before sleep?

A. Made alternate trips
B. Listened to music
C. Touched backs
D. Sydney rubbed feet

C. Touched backs.
Sydney and Ondine slept back to back, feeling safety radiating from the able spine of the partner.

22. How did Ondine refer to Jadine’s appearance when she was modeling?

A. Copper Venus
B. Prettiest thing
C. Fast-ass
D. Yalla

B. Prettiest thing.
Ondine complimented Jadine on her modeling career, saying she was the “Prettiest thing I ever saw”.

23. What did Ondine fear about Jadine’s choice of partner after the affair?

A. He was too handsome
B. He would hurt her
C. He was a no-count Negro
D. He had wildness

C. He was a no-count Negro.
Ondine worried that Jadine might marry some “no-count Negro,” regardless of his good looks or sweet talking.

24. What specific body part was Ondine worried about giving out due to her work?

A. Her arms
B. Her ankles
C. Her back
D. Her feet

D. Her feet.
Ondine worried that her feet were not going to last much longer and she needed to stand up to do her work.

25. Why did Sydney believe Valerian had fired Gideon and Thérèse?

A. They stole apples
B. He wanted a change
C. For his own amusement
D. Didn’t care

C. For his own amusement.
Sydney believed Valerian invited Son to dinner and fired Gideon/Thérèse just because it entertained him; he did not care about others.

26. What was Jadine’s occupation in Paris?

A. Art student
B. Waitress
C. Model
D. Artist

C. Model.
Jadine had been chosen for the cover of Elle and was currently working as a model.

27. What physical item did the woman in the yellow dress use to convey insult?

A. A glare
B. Spit
C. Eggs
D. Her hands

B. Spit.
The African woman turned and “shot an arrow of saliva” at Jadine and the others below.

28. What clothing item did Jadine wear that was made from ninety baby seals?

A. A coat
B. A skirt
C. Slippers
D. A dress

A. A coat.
Jadine’s Christmas gift from Ryk was a sealskin coat, made from the hides of ninety baby seals.

29. What type of jewelry was Jadine wearing in the magazine photos that was worth half a million?

A. Gold necklaces
B. Silver lamé
C. Antique earrings
D. A cross

C. Antique earrings.
Jadine showed Son antique earrings that belonged to Catherine the Great, estimating their worth at half a million.

30. What did Jadine admit to Son about the feeling the African woman gave her?

A. Rage
B. Inauthenticity
C. Excitement
D. Disgust

B. Inauthenticity.
Jadine felt lonely and inauthentic after the woman in yellow spat at her, shaking her confidence.

31. What did Valerian call the fight arguments between Jadine and Michael?

A. Typical
B. All Voodoo
C. Quilting
D. All grits

A. Typical.
Valerian, after hearing about Jadine and Michael’s argument over art history versus organizing, called it “Typical”.

32. What material did Jadine’s gold slippers click against in the house?

A. Hard-packed sand
B. Mexican tile
C. Karastan carpet
D. Gravel

B. Mexican tile.
Jadine’s light clicking of heels on Mexican tile was heard when she entered the room after Margaret.

33. What reason did Son give for trying to dirty Jadine during their confrontation?

A. He was hungry
B. He was ashamed
C. He was joking
D. He was angry

B. He was ashamed.
Son apologized, saying he was dirty and felt ashamed next to her clean room, so he tried to dirty her.

34. What did Jadine feel most fearful of during her struggles with Son?

A. Being killed
B. Looking foolish
C. Being sniffed
D. Black sperm

B. Looking foolish.
Jadine noted that more awful than the fear of danger was the fear of looking foolish or overreacting.

35. How did Jadine eventually describe her trip to Eloe and her time with Son?

A. A beautiful rescue
B. A mistake
C. A glorious future
D. Paleolithic

B. A mistake.
After returning, Jadine admitted to Ondine that her relationship and departure with Son was “a mistake of the first order”.

36. Where was Son found hiding by Margaret?

A. Under the sink
B. The washhouse
C. Margaret’s closet
D. The gazebo

C. Margaret’s closet.
Margaret found Son sitting on the floor in her walk-in closet, holding her box of souvenirs.

37. What did Son claim he was looking for when he first approached Valerian’s house?

A. A bathroom
B. A piece of cheese
C. A drink of water
D. A piano

C. A drink of water.
Son claimed he went toward the house to find a drink of water after walking the dark road.

38. What object made Son feel overwhelmed by fatigue upon seeing it in the house?

A. The refrigerator
B. The piano
C. A Billy Blass sheet
D. The silver bowl

B. The piano.
Seeing the piano in the moonlit room made Son feel tired, weak, and overwhelmed with fatigue.

39. What did Son call Gideon (Yardman) based on his back?

A. Yardman
B. Get Away Man
C. Smokehouse cot
D. Gideon

C. Smokehouse cot.
Son stared at Yardman’s back, seeing it as open and unprotected, stretched like a smokehouse cot.

40. What action did Son take that caused the cyclamen plants to bloom suddenly?

A. Singing to them
B. Giving them water
C. Flicking their stems
D. Spraying ant killer

C. Flicking their stems.
Son insisted he knew about plants and demonstrated by flicking the cyclamen stems hard to “jack them up”.

41. How did Gideon refer to Alma Estée’s dreams of wealth and wigs?

A. Her ambition
B. Love of lies
C. Normal desire
D. Her magic

B. Love of lies.
Gideon warned Son not to encourage Thérèse or Alma Estée, saying the blind race loved lies.

42. What did Son tell Jadine he killed in Eloe?

A. A man
B. A boy
C. A woman
D. A snapper

C. A woman.
When Jadine pressed him, Son admitted that he killed a black woman whom he was married to (Cheyenne).

43. What did Son claim was the only “real money” he ever owned?

A. His original dime
B. Craps winnings
C. Valerian’s money
D. His army pay

A. His original dime.
Son told Jadine his “original dime” earned from cleaning sheephead was the best and only real money he ever had.

44. What was the core accusation Son leveled against Jadine’s education?

A. It was too easy
B. It didn’t include him
C. It was not the law
D. It was too costly

B. It didn’t include him.
Son shouted that whatever she learned that “didn’t include me ain’t shit,” and she couldn’t know herself without knowing him.

45. What sight in New York depressed Son the most?

A. Hilton whores
B. Crying black girls
C. Underground childhood
D. Purple carpet

B. Crying black girls.
Son noted the silent grief of black girls crying in public, wondering who had done this thing to them.

46. What was the central topic of the bitter argument between Valerian and Margaret on Christmas Day?

A. Michael’s non-arrival
B. The geese versus the turkey
C. Firing of Gideon and Thérèse
D. Jadine’s conduct

C. Firing of Gideon and Thérèse.
The argument escalated because Valerian had fired Gideon and Thérèse for stealing apples without informing Sydney and Ondine.

47. What appalling act did Ondine reveal Margaret committed against her son, Michael?

A. Sent him away
B. Made him ashamed
C. Cut him up/burned him
D. Made him sing

C. Cut him up/burned him.
Ondine screamed that Margaret used pins and cigarettes to hurt Michael when he was a baby.

48. What was Margaret’s reaction immediately after revealing the abuse?

A. She cried
B. She left
C. She was serene
D. She apologized

C. She was serene.
After Ondine’s revelation, Margaret stood still and straight, with tears, but a beautiful, serene face.

49. What did Son see in Jadine’s eyes just before she abandoned him?

A. Sealskin
B. Savannas
C. Disgust
D. Shame

A. Sealskin.
When Jadine rejected Son’s dime, he saw “sealskin in her eyes” and felt shame for having soiled her nakedness.

50. What final image of Son did Thérèse provide to him, urging him away from L’Arbe de la Croix?

A. Blind, naked horsemen
B. Gold-tracking the floor
C. The chocolate eater
D. Man of integrity

A. Blind, naked horsemen.
Thérèse told Son to go to the hills where the blind, naked men on horses were waiting for him to choose them.

Brief Overview

Tar Baby is a novel by Toni Morrison, published in 1981. The story is set against the backdrop of a wealthy white family’s island home in the Caribbean. It is a complex narrative that focuses on themes of race, class, identity, and cultural roots.

The novel is set on a Caribbean island called Isle des Chevaliers. The action centers on the home of the rich white couple, Valerian and Margaret Street, and their Black domestic staff, Sydney and Ondine. Ondine’s niece, Jadine, an educated model from Paris, is visiting them. The atmosphere in the house is tense due to the strained marriage of Margaret and Valerian.

The plot thickens when a strange Black man, Son, is discovered hiding in Margaret’s closet. Valerian surprises everyone by inviting Son to stay. Son and Jadine quickly begin a passionate and volatile relationship.

At Christmas dinner, a terrible family secret is exposed. Ondine violently yells that Margaret had badly hurt her own son, Michael, when he was a baby, by sticking pins into him. Valerian is completely distraught by this secret revelation.

Jadine and Son leave the island together for New York. Their relationship quickly fails because Son wants them to live in his poor Florida hometown, Eloe. Jadine hates Eloe and criticizes Son’s lack of money and ambition.

Jadine eventually leaves Son and returns to the island to retrieve her belongings, intending to fly to Paris. Son follows her back, but he arrives too late and learns Jadine is gone. Son then chooses to leave the house behind. He runs into the island’s wild hills, hoping to find the legendary, blind horsemen who live there.