In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens

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 author does Walker refer to most when she discusses her own model in “Saving the Life that is Your Own”?

2. What staple food item is Walker’s mother in need of in “The Black Writer and the Southern Experience”?

3. At what university does Walker give the commencement address in “A Talk: Convocation 1972”?

4. What is the title of Jean Toomer’s most well-known work?

5. What central term to Walker’s writing does she introduce in her essay “Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson”?

6. What are the names of the Black women whom Walker refers to as an “unholy trinity” in “Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View”?

Short Answer

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

1. In “The Black Writer and the Southern Experience,” which author does Walker compare William Faulkner to and what is the major contrast between them?

2. How is the essay “But Yet and Still the Cotton Gin Kept on Working…” structured, and how does this structure support Walker’s message?

3.