Trivia Quiz for “Passing” by Nella Larsen and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by August Wilson, film by George C. Wolfe

Image: Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020) is luminous in his role as Levee, the heart-breaking, haunted trumpet player in Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his final film. It became a hit upon release: a true classic. Levee (Boseman) is seen here on the left, with his fellow musicians Slow Drag the bass player (Michael Potts) and band leader Cutler (Colman Domingo).

Trivia Quiz for

Passing by Nella Larsen (1929), and

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson, film by George C. Wolfe (2020)

For West Seattle “Classic Novels (and Movies)” book club, 5/23/21

I. Passing

1. Irene Redfield expresses some compassion and warmth toward her childhood acquaintance Clare Kendry, but she also criticizes her. What trait does Clare not have, according to Irene?

a. she knows how to have fun

b. she is selfish, cold, and hard

c. she is lonely

d. she “fair and golden, like a sunlit day”

e. she is a devoted pal

2. Clare’s laughter has a distinctive sound. Which of the following does not describe it?

a. “like the ringing of a delicate bell fashioned of a precious metal, a tinkling”

b. “sounded like a pulse irregularly drumming through an entire body”

c. “the ringing bells in her laugh had a hard metallic sound”

3. When a guest accidentally makes Irene drop and break a priceless teacup, she answers in a way that may sound prescient, for what happens later. What does she say?

a. “How heavenly it is to see you again!”

b. “I only had to break it, and I was rid of it forever. So simple! I’d never thought of it before.”

c. “He just s-s-s-slipped! … He j-j-just got in t-t-the way!”

II. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

4. Although named after a famous woman blues singer, the action of the work—the paroxysm of frustration and anger which brings the show to climax—is mainly driven by the words and deeds of a man unknown to history. What is his name and profession? Choose the correct answer from the following:

a. Jack Bellew, a businessman

b. Levee, a trumpet player

c. Logan Killicks, a farmer

d. Peter Walsh, a trader

e. Irvin, a studio manager

f. Mr. Fletcher, a retired Treasury official

5. Characters in Ma Rainey express anxiety about sustaining the group’s fragile unity, which may also indicate larger dangers. Which quote is not from Ma Rainey?

a. “Mrs. Turner frowned most of the time. She had so much to disapprove of.”

b. “I don’t feel like rehearsing. I ain’t nothing but a leftover.”

c. “A fool is responsible for what happens to him. A fool cause it to happen.”

III. Themes Found in Both Works

Social Dangers from within and without. In both works, even the wealthiest, most successful characters express self-doubt and fears about the future. Match the quote to the character who says or thinks it.

The characters include: a. Ma Rainey; b. Irene Redfield; c. Clare Kendry; d. Sturdyvant.

Quotes:

6. “I think,” she said at last, “that being a mother is the cruellest thing in the world.” Her clasped hands swayed.. and her scarlet mouth trembled irrepressibly.

7. “It sure done got quiet in here. I never could stand no silence.”

8. “Times are changing. This is a tricky business now. We’ve got to jazz it up… put in something different.”

9. “She hoped that he had been comfortable and not too lonely without her and the boys. Not so lonely that that old, queer, unhappy restlessness had begun again within him, that craving for some place strange and different.”

God’s Will (or Willful Disregard). Each of the following quotes is taken from either Passing or Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Identify the correct source.

10. “Have you ever stopped to think … how much unhappiness and downright cruelty are laid to the loving-kindness of the Lord? And always by His most ardent followers, it seems.”

“Have I? It, they, made me what I am today. For, of course, I was determined to get away, to be a person and not a charity or a problem or even a daughter of the indiscreet Ham.”