Passage 263

Paule Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors, Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks, she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman's search for identity within the context of a Black community. But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine's development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents, and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture, which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America. By placing characters within a wider cultural context, Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970's.

Questions:
1 The passage is primarily concerned with
A. comparing the works of three Black American authors
B. describing common themes in Black American literature
C. discussing an important work in Black American literature
D. providing insights about Black American literature in the early twentieth century
E. providing historical information about the writing of Black American novels in the second half the twentieth century
2 According to the passage, Hurston, Brooks, and Marshall are alike in that they
A. did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters' lives
B. were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century
C. used Black communities as the settings for their novels
D. wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture
E. wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women
3 The author's description of the way in which Marshall depicts her heroine's development is most probably intended to
A. continue the discussion of similarities in the works of Brooks, Hurston, and Marshall
B. describe the specific racial and sexual stereotypes that Marshall attacked
C. contrast the characters in Marshall's novels with those in later works
D. show how Marshall extends the portrayal of character initiated by her predecessors
E. compare themes in Marshall's early work with themes in her later novels
4 It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl, Brownstones as being
A. completely different from novels written before 1959
B. highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century
C. similar to the protest novels that preceded it
D. important in the late 1950's but dated today
E. an important influence on novels written in the 1970's
Answers:
Question No. Answer
1 C
2 C
3 D
4 E

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