Q 01/05

Which intruder does Bigger Thomas kill with an iron skillet in the opening scene of Native Son?

A) A bat

B) A rat

C) A snake

D) A cat

Answer · why

B) A rat

A rat is his first kill of the day, and he then dangles the body in front of his sister until she faints.

Q 02/05

On the South Side of which city does Richard Wright's Native Son take place during the 1930s?

A) St. Louis

B) Cleveland

C) Philadelphia

D) Chicago

Answer · why

D) Chicago

Chicago's Black Belt is the setting, where the four members of the Thomas family share a single rented room through a hard winter.

Q 03/05

Which trait of Mrs. Dalton doubles as Native Son's symbol of white attitudes to Black suffering?

A) Her deafness

B) Her forgetfulness

C) Her blindness

D) Her silence

Answer · why

C) Her blindness

Her blindness is literal and symbolic: she walks into the bedroom while her daughter is dying and leaves without knowing anyone else was there.

Q 04/05

How does Mary Dalton die in Native Son after Bigger Thomas carries her, drunk, up to her bedroom?

A) Strangled with a scarf

B) Smothered with a pillow

C) Pushed down the stairs

D) Poisoned with sleeping pills

Answer · why

B) Smothered with a pillow

Smothered with a pillow, Mary dies by accident: Bigger only meant to keep her quiet while her mother stood in the room.

Q 05/05

Where does Bigger Thomas put Mary Dalton's body in Native Son, hoping no trace will remain?

A) In the furnace

B) In Lake Michigan

C) Under the garage

D) In an air shaft

Answer · why

A) In the furnace

He burns it in the furnace in the Daltons' basement, piling on extra coal before going home to bed.