Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. Which two words does the narrator use to describe the transformations people experience during the Sunday services?

2. Why does Father James believe Elisha and Ella Mae sinned?

3. Why does John feel guilty on the morning of his 14th birthday?

4. According to John’s mother, why does John’s father beat his children?

5. What does John decide to use his birthday money on?

6. What physical activity does John ask Elisha to help him with?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who is Elisha? Summarize how he contributes to John’s sexual awakening.

2. What attributes does John realize that he possesses outside of his church community? Identify a memory John shares where this realization becomes clear to him.

3. Describe John’s house. How does he link this description with the members of his family?

4. What does John reflect on as he traverses New York City?

5. What event does John come home to? Describe how the family responds to his arrival.

6. How does John think his family treats him compared with his brother Roy? What is an example of this preferential treatment?