If Beale Street Could Talk

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. According to Tish, who should be ashamed?

A) The poor Puerto Rican women

B) The people who are in charge of the jails

C) The hardworking Black men and women

D) The New York City government

2. As Tish ponders the meaning of “being in trouble,” she notes:

But, at the same time, and even on the self-same day—and this is what is hard to explain—you see people like you never saw them before. They shine as bright as a razor. Maybe it’s because you see people differently than before your trouble started. Maybe you wonder about them more, but in a different way, and this makes them very strange to you. Maybe you get scared and numb, because you don’t know if you can depend on people for anything, anymore. (Part 1, Pages 3-75)

Which of the following literary terms is featured in this quote?

A) Allusion

B) Allegory

C) Alliteration

D) Anaphora

3. Which of the following elements does Fonny recall from his parents’ lovemaking?

A) Abuse

B) Peace

C) Reluctance

D) Joy

4. Which of the following phrases is the best example of Alice Hunt as a “sanctified woman”?

A) Ensuring Fonny attended Sunday School so everyone could admire her

B) Supporting the local orphanage with canned food

C) Leading the choir in “Uncloudy Day”

D) Performing the “holy dance” in church

5. Which of the following words best describes how Tish views life in America?

A) With contempt

B) With admiration

C) As bountiful

D) As sheltered

6. Tish recalls Fonny’s stint at the vocational school:

Fonny had found something that he could do, that he wanted to do, and this saved him from the death that was waiting to overtake the children of our age. Though the death took many forms, though people died early in many different ways, the death itself was simple and the cause was simple, too: as simple as the plague: the kids had been told that they weren’t worth shit and everything they saw around them proved it. (Part 1, Page 36)

Tish uses the personification of death in the above quote to describe which of the following beliefs?

A) That the economic systems were too harsh on Black women

B) That the poor infrastructure of vocational schools was poisoning students with asbestos

C) That Black children were preconditioned into believing they lacked worth

D) That the poor diet of Black children was ultimately resulting in early childhood obesity

7. Sitting in Mr. Hayward’s office, Tish concludes that “The only coin time accepted was life.” Which of the following sentences best explains this quote?

A) Life moves slowly or quickly, depending on how happy one is.

B) The passage of time cannot be altered, no matter how one tries.

C) Time is a force that can separate or bond people together.

D) One will spend life searching for ways to make it slow down.

8. Which of the following literary terms best represents the relevance of Danny’s arrest and imprisonment?

A) Irony

B) Allegory

C) Paradox

D) Foreshadowing

9. Which word best describes how Danny believes white cops feel when arresting African Americans?

A) Aroused

B) Ashamed

C) Abashed

D) Adulterated

10. Which of the following phrases best describes Sis’s plan for Fonny’s case?

A) Outmaneuvering the criminal justice system

B) Unleashing violent actions

C) Relinquishing all authority to Mr. Hayward

D) Compiling notes on Officer Bell’s behalf

11. Which of the following clauses best describes why Fonny tells Tish not to protect him?

A) Because he does not want her to go to jail

B) Because he thinks she is too weak

C) Because he believes her family would lose respect for him

D) Because he finds it emasculating

12. When Sharon enters the airport, Baldwin writes the following observation: “The world sees what it wishes to see, or, when the chips are down, what you tell it to see: it does not wish to see who, or what, or why you are.” Which of the following literary terms is featured in this quote?

A) Hyperbole

B) Personification

C) Simile

D) Allusion

13. What does Tish believe connects her growing baby and Fonny?

A) The love of the community

B) The strength of familial unity

C) The desire to be free

D) The power to fight back

14. Which of the following words best describes how Tish feels about her relationship with Fonny after leaving visiting hours in Part 2?

A) Discouraged

B) Ashamed

C) Carefree

D) Confident

15. Which of the following best describes the final scene of the novel?

A) The redemption of African American justice

B) The banality of art as a form of expression

C) The juxtaposition between life and death

D) The bonding effect of familial love

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is the chronology of the book? How does the passage of time affect the overall mood of the book?

2. Consider the title of the novel, If Beale Street Could Talk. What is the meaning of the title? What is/are the literary terms that Baldwin uses in this title?