Short-Answer Quizzes: Part 3

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Study Questions

1. What was the purpose of the protest march?

2. Alice Manfred made a good living. How did this affect her attitude about things?

3. How did Dorcas react to the tragedy surrounding her parents’ deaths?

4. In your opinion what long-lasting effect did her parents’ deaths have on Dorcas?

5. How did Alice and the Miller Sisters feel about the music?

6. Describe Dorcas’ personality as a child.

7. What happened to Neola Miller’s left hand and how did Dorcas react to the story?

8. To be funny, what did people change Violet’s name to?

9. How did Dorcas describe her life as a 17-year-old?

10. What did the city whisper to Dorcas and to anyone who would listen?

Answers

1. Dorcas and her aunt attended the protest parade in honor of her parents who were killed in two separate racial incidents. African-Americans responded solemnly and in silence against such acts of violence that were occurring in locations throughout the country.

2. Alice Manfred would be described as bourgeois. She had made it and could not understand why everyone hadn’t. She thought the average African-American was beneath her.

3. Dorcas’ reaction to her parents’ deaths was to become mute. For a long period of time she refused to speak.

4. Since she never really talked about her parents’ deaths, she never really healed from the tragedy. The pain was still very much inside of her and affected her attitude about herself and life in general.

5. Alice Manfred and the Miller Sisters felt that the music everywhere in their community was the cause of all of African-Americans’ problems. They felt the music was low-down and dirty. Alice especially hated the music because it made her feel something inside even when she didn’t want to.

6. As a child, Dorcas was always bold.

7. Like most women, Neola Miller wore her engagement ring on her left hand. This hand shriveled up when her love did not come for her.

8. People jokingly called her Violent instead of Violet.

9. When Dorcas is rejected by the handsome twins at the party, she feels her life is unbearable. Like most girls her age, one thing after another makes her feel she will never fit in, be accepted, or be fulfilled. Dorcas has no boyfriend and dresses like a baby. Her body longs for a love that she feels she will never find. She feels the situation is hopeless.

10. The music and pulse of New York City whispers to Dorcas and anyone else who will listen, “Come. ... Come and do wrong.”

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Short-Answer Quizzes: Part 2

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Short-Answer Quizzes: Part 4

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