All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers
Every English Literature question in the bank, across all chapters, each with the correct answer and a written explanation. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
3,192 questions · page 2 of 160
- A. Is the time period that followed the Civil War.
- B. Describes the rebuilding after World War I.
- C. Refers to the Civil Rights movement.
- D. Took place only in the North.
Explanation: Reconstruction was the post-Civil War period, especially 1865–1877, when the United States attempted to rebuild the South and redefine the…
Correct answer: Is the time period that followed the Civil War.22. During the early 20th century, a black person's purpose in passing might have been_________________?
- A. To obtain justice for black people.
- B. To get better accommodations on the train, better seats in the theatre.
- C. To escape from slavery.
- D. None of the above.
Explanation: Passing as white could provide access to privileges denied to Black people, including better railway seating, theatre accommodations…
Correct answer: To get better accommodations on the train, better seats in the theatre.- A. He had known many "Biggers" in his life.
- B. He was trying to overcome his fears of powerful men.
- C. He was proud of all the African American men he had seen stand up to Whites.
- D. He wanted to show African American males how not to live.
Explanation: Wright based Bigger on the many Black men he had encountered whose lives had been shaped by racial oppression and restricted choices.
Correct answer: He had known many "Biggers" in his life.- A. Their belief in necessary violence.
- B. Their belief that women should have equal rights.
- C. Their appeals to Christians.
- D. Their belief that African Americans should govern themselves.
Explanation: Both speeches appeal to Christian ideas and biblical language while arguing against racial oppression.
Correct answer: Their appeals to Christians.- A. A Christian.
- B. A radical.
- C. An accomodationist.
- D. A coward.
Explanation: Du Bois criticised Washington's strategy of accommodation, meaning the acceptance of limited civil and political rights in exchange for…
Correct answer: An accomodationist.- A. A period of time when African Americans moved North in large numbers.
- B. When African Americans settled Liberia.
- C. When slaves traveled the Underground Railroad.
- D. When African Americans migrated to the South from the North.Explore Top Audiobooks
Explanation: The Great Migration was the large-scale movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern and Western cities, especially from…
Correct answer: A period of time when African Americans moved North in large numbers.- A. Strengthened the African American's place in the world of literature
- B. Perpetuated stereotypes
- C. Allowed African American authors to sell their works more widely to white audiences
- D. Showed that African Americans couldn't speak properly.
Explanation: Critics have argued that literary dialect could increase sales to white audiences and give African American writing visibility, while also…
Correct answer: Showed that African Americans couldn't speak properly.- A. The 1960s protest movements
- B. The attempts of African slaves to communicate with each other
- C. Slave owners teaching slaves Elizabethan English
- D. Slaves' attempts to keep their conversations secretSupport Black Businesses
Explanation: African American dialects developed partly from enslaved Africans' need to communicate across different African language groups and with…
Correct answer: The attempts of African slaves to communicate with each other- A. Captivity narratives.
- B. Abolitionist newspaper accounts.
- C. Folktales.
- D. African mythology.Find Online Therapy
Explanation: Slave narratives inherited the structure and conventions of earlier captivity narratives, which described imprisonment, suffering…
Correct answer: Captivity narratives.- A. Trickster
- B. Victim
- C. Representation of the slave master
- D. "Uncle Tom" character who feels slavery is best for the African American
Explanation: Brer Rabbit is a classic trickster character who survives by using intelligence, deceit, and wit against stronger figures.
Correct answer: Trickster- A. She is proud of her heritage.
- B. She doesn't want Maggie to have it.
- C. She wants to display it for her friends to see.
- D. She loves the beauty of it.
Explanation: Dee wants the quilts as cultural objects to display in her fashionable home, not for everyday use.
Correct answer: She wants to display it for her friends to see.- A. Rabid dogs.
- B. Her husband.
- C. Snakes.
- D. Bertha.
Explanation: Delia is especially terrified of snakes, and Sykes deliberately exploits that fear by bringing one into the house.
Correct answer: Snakes.- A. Sharecropping.
- B. Slavery.
- C. Segregation.
- D. Prostitution.
Explanation: The story exposes how sharecropping kept Black farmers trapped in debt and poverty after emancipation.
Correct answer: Sharecropping.- A. The races should not intermarry.
- B. Christians the only ones not to blame for the existence of slavery.
- C. Blacks have the duty to resist slavery.
- D. Blacks should return to Africa.
Explanation: Walker’s Appeal urged enslaved Black people to resist slavery rather than accept submission as their fate.
Correct answer: Blacks have the duty to resist slavery.- A. Slaveholders objected to losing leisure time.
- B. Slaves outnumbered non-slaves and might rebel.
- C. Slaveholders felt economic security rested on the system of slavery.
- D. B and C.
- E. A and C.
Explanation: Slaveholders defended slavery because their wealth and social security depended on enslaved labour, while the large enslaved population…
Correct answer: B and C.- A. Harriet Beecher Stowe
- B. Joel Chandler Harris
- C. Richard Wright
- D. Charles Chesnutt
Explanation: Uncle Julius is Charles W. Chesnutt’s recurring African American storyteller, especially associated with the Conjure stories.
Correct answer: Charles Chesnutt- A. It was the first African American novel.
- B. It was the first African American newspaper.
- C. It was published by Frederick Douglass.
- D. It argued for a separate African American community in America.Explore Top Audiobooks
Explanation: Freedom’s Journal, founded in 1827, was the first African American newspaper in the United States.
Correct answer: It was the first African American newspaper.- A. The narrator's attempt to stay hidden.
- B. The narrator's desire to be safe.
- C. The narrator's invisibility to society.
- D. The narrator's attempt to stay out of prison.Download Interactive Maps
Explanation: The underground room represents the narrator's social invisibility and withdrawal from a society that refuses to recognise his…
Correct answer: The narrator's invisibility to society.- A. To keep the slave offspring of White slave owners from inheriting.
- B. To allow mixed-race children to get scholarships meant for African Americans.
- C. To make sure mothers of mixed-race children got custody.
- D. To keep White slave owner parents of mixed-race offspring from having to pay for their children.Explore Top Audiobooks
Explanation: The one-drop rule classified anyone with African ancestry as Black, preventing mixed-race offspring of white slave owners from claiming…
Correct answer: To keep the slave offspring of White slave owners from inheriting.- A. It was home to the Harlem Renaissance.
- B. Most of its inhabitants worked for White people.
- C. It was primarily African American.
- D. It was destroyed after the Civil War.Stream History Documentaries
Explanation: Eatonville was established as one of the first incorporated African American municipalities in the United States.
Correct answer: It was primarily African American.