39 pages • 1 hour read
Big Black Good Man
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Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Reading Check
1. What is the setting of “Big Black Good Man”?
2. How is Jim characterized when Olaf first meets him?
3. What does Jim want Olaf to hold on to for him during his stay at the hotel?
4. How does Lena’s first reaction to the idea of Jim differ from Olaf’s?
5. According to Olaf, why does Jim put his hands around his neck?
Multiple Choice
1. How does Olaf feel about his life at the beginning of the story?
A) He feels like he can’t complain much about his life.
B) He wants to move back to New York.
C) He wishes he didn’t leave the navy.
D) He doesn’t feel any different than he did as a young man.
2. What is Olaf’s first impression of Jim?
A) Jim reminds him of himself at that age.
B) He reminds Olaf of his son.
C) Olaf thinks he’s huge and strange.
D) He doesn’t think much of him.
3. Which of the following quotes best identifies the reason for Olaf’s immediate hatred for Jim?
A) “It was not the hotel did not admit men of color; Olaf took in all comers – blacks, yellows, whites, and browns…To Olaf, all men were men…”
B) “…this particular black man…Well, he didn’t seem human.”
C) “There was something about the man’s intense blackness and ungamely bigness that frightened and insulted Olaf…”
D) “…he felt as though this man had come here expressly to remind him how puny, how tiny, and how weak and how white he was.”
4. If Olaf is so scared of Jim, why doesn’t Olaf tell the owner of the hotel about his concerns?
A) Olaf is not supposed to reach out to his boss, who is vacationing in Sweden.
B) The owner of the hotel is also Black.
C) The owner of the hotel cares more about Jim’s money than Olaf’s fear.
D) The owner of the hotel would call the police on Jim, and Olaf doesn’t want to start trouble.
5. As Jim leaves the hotel, what does Olaf realize he could have done to protect himself against Jim?
A) Olaf remembers there is a gun in the desk drawer.
B) Olaf remembers there is a button he can press to call the police directly.
C) Olaf realizes he could have lawfully rejected Jim when he first came in for a room.
D) Olaf realizes he can get Jim arrested by turning in Lena as a prostitute.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Olaf think about the tenants in the hotel?
2. How does Olaf think about himself in terms of having racist ideology?
3. What is Olaf’s reaction when Jim asks him to arrange a prostitute for him?
4. How does Olaf feel when Jim turns up to check out of the hotel?
5. When Jim returns after many months and holds Olaf’s neck again, what does Olaf reach for for protection and why has Jim returned to Olaf?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Reading Check
1. Denmark (Paragraph 1)
2. a brooding, enormous black cloud but well dressed (Paragraphs 17 and 19)
3. a large stash of money (Paragraph 31)
4. Olaf is scared of Jim, but Lena declares Jim is “just a man.” (Paragraph 50)
5. to show how easy it would be for him to kill Olaf (Paragraph 78)
Multiple Choice
1. A (Paragraph 2)
2. C (Paragraph 15)
3. D (Paragraph 24)
4. C (Paragraph 60)
5. A (Paragraph 85)
Short-Answer Response
1. Olaf sees the tenants in the hotel as his sons. Many of the tenants are sailors, so they also remind Olaf of his own youth, when he traveled the world as a sailor. (Paragraphs 13 and 14)
2. In Olaf’s younger years, he served as a sailor with men of different races and cultures, so he sees himself as inclusive. (Paragraph 24)
3. Olaf is accustomed to calling in prostitutes for the men in his hotel, but he worries about sending fragile female bodies to Jim because of Jim’s enormous size and brutal look. (Paragraph 46)
4. When Jim meets Olaf in the lobby to check out, Olaf senses a deep tension in the room, and he feels overpowered by Jim’s presence. Olaf feels that Jim is observing him closely, which fills him with intense fear. (Paragraph 71)
5. Olaf reaches for the gun in the drawer, but stops when he sees the weapon Olaf feared was in Jim’s possession is actually a shirt Olaf made for him as a thank you for introducing him to Lena. (Paragraphs 102 - 116)
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