I, Too, Sing America quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "I, Too, Sing America"?

   • Beat Generation
   • Transcendentalism
   • Correct answer: Harlem Renaissance
   • Romanticism

   Correct. Hughes was a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s flowering of Black writing, art and music centered in Harlem, New York. This poem appeared in his first book, The Weary Blues (1926).

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2. 2

   Question 2. When company comes, where is the speaker sent to eat?

   • Out on the back porch
   • Down in the cellar
   • Up in his bedroom
   • Correct answer: In the kitchen

   The poem says, "They send me to eat in the kitchen" when company comes. He is kept out of sight while the guests eat at the table.

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3. 3

   Question 3. When he is sent to the kitchen, what does the speaker do?

   • He shouts
   • Correct answer: He laughs
   • He weeps
   • He sulks

   The poem says, "But I laugh," and then that he eats well and grows strong. He does not let the insult break him.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does the speaker say will happen tomorrow?

   • Correct answer: He will be at the table when company comes
   • He will eat in the kitchen once again
   • He will cook the meal for the company
   • He will leave the house and never return

   The poem says, "I'll be at the table" when company comes. Tomorrow he will sit with everyone else instead of eating apart.

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5. 5

   Question 5. In the line "When company comes," what does company mean?

   • Time spent all alone
   • A business that sells goods
   • Correct answer: Guests visiting the home
   • A group of marching soldiers

   Here company means guests or visitors. The speaker is sent to the kitchen when visitors come to eat. A company can also be a business or a group of soldiers, but not in this poem.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Who is the speaker of the poem?

   • Correct answer: A Black American left out of the meal
   • A cook hired to serve the dinner guests
   • A guest who arrives late for dinner
   • A neighbor who lives across the road

   He calls himself "the darker brother," a member of the family who is sent away because of the color of his skin. He is family, not a servant or a guest.

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7. 7

   Question 7. The first line, "I, too, sing America," answers an earlier poem called I Hear America Singing. Who wrote that earlier poem?

   • Edgar Allan Poe
   • Emily Dickinson
   • Robert Frost
   • Correct answer: Walt Whitman

   Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing praises the songs of American workers but leaves out Black Americans. The word too in Hughes's first line says: I am singing America as well, and my voice belongs in that song.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does being sent to eat in the kitchen most likely stand for?

   • Being rewarded for hard work
   • Correct answer: Being kept apart because of race
   • Being punished for bad manners
   • Being asked to help with cooking

   The kitchen stands for segregation, when Black Americans were kept apart from white Americans. The darker brother is hidden away when company comes, not because of anything he did.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Complete the line: I am the darker ___.

   • sister
   • cousin
   • stranger
   • Correct answer: brother

   The line is "I am the darker brother." Calling himself a brother shows he is part of the American family.

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10. 10

    Question 10. In the poem, what does a seat at the table stand for?

    • A fear of meeting strangers at dinner
    • Correct answer: An equal place in American life
    • A love of fancy family dinners
    • A wish to someday become a famous cook

    When the speaker says, "I'll be at the table," he means he will be treated as an equal. The table stands for full and fair membership in American life.

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11. 11

    Question 11. In the line "Nobody'll dare," what does dare mean?

    • Correct answer: Be bold enough to do something
    • Be too scared to try anything
    • Be politely asked to do a task
    • Challenge someone to a contest

    To dare means to be brave or bold enough to do something. Tomorrow, nobody will be bold enough to tell him to eat in the kitchen. Dare can also mean to challenge someone, but that is not the sense here.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which words best describe the speaker's tone?

    • Bitter and hopeless
    • Fearful and unsure
    • Correct answer: Proud and certain
    • Silly and playful

    The speaker is proud and certain. He does not complain; he says, "But I laugh," and he speaks of tomorrow as something sure to come, not something he only hopes for.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Why will nobody dare send him to the kitchen tomorrow?

    • He will be too busy cooking for the guests
    • Correct answer: He will have grown strong and sure of his place
    • He will own the house and make all the rules
    • He will have moved far away to another town

    While he is sent away, he will "eat well, / And grow strong." By tomorrow he will be too strong, and too sure of his place, for anyone to push him out again.

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14. 14

    Question 14. Why does the speaker think they will be ashamed?

    • They will see he told the guests a secret
    • They will see the meal was poorly cooked
    • Correct answer: They will see how beautiful he is
    • They will see he has eaten all the food

    The poem says, "They'll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed." Once they truly see him, they will feel shame for having treated him unfairly.

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15. 15

    Question 15. The fourth stanza opens with the word Besides. What does besides mean here?

    • Correct answer: In addition; and also
    • Next to; at the side of
    • Instead of; in place of
    • Except for; other than

    Here besides means in addition, or what's more. The speaker adds one more point: they will also see how beautiful he is. Do not mix it up with beside, which means next to.

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16. 16

    Question 16. How does the last line change the first line?

    • It changes 'America' to 'home,' so he means his house
    • It changes 'I' to 'we,' so he speaks for his family
    • It changes 'too' to 'not,' so he gives up his claim
    • Correct answer: It changes 'sing' to 'am,' so he is part of America

    The poem begins "I, too, sing America" and ends "I, too, am America." At first he sings about his country; by the end he says he is a part of it, as much as anyone.

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17. 17

    Question 17. Which idea does the poem most strongly express?

    • Hard work is the surest road to riches
    • Good manners matter more than fairness
    • People should eat their meals in silence
    • Correct answer: Black Americans are a true part of America

    The poem says that the darker brother belongs in America just as much as anyone. Its last line, "I, too, am America," claims his full place in the nation.

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18. 18

    Question 18. Which of these happen in the poem?

    • The speaker is sent to eat in the kitchen when company comes.

      Happened

      The poem says, "They send me to eat in the kitchen" when company comes.

    • The speaker refuses to eat the food he is given in the kitchen.

      Didn't happen

      He does the opposite. The poem says he will "eat well, / And grow strong."

    • The speaker laughs instead of complaining about being sent away.

      Happened

      The poem says, "But I laugh," right after he is sent to the kitchen.

    • The speaker cries alone in the kitchen after the guests arrive.

      Didn't happen

      He never cries. He laughs, eats well, and grows strong.

    • The speaker calls himself the darker brother.

      Happened

      The second stanza opens, "I am the darker brother."

    • The guests invite the speaker to join them at the table that night.

      Didn't happen

      No one invites him that night. He says he will be at the table tomorrow.

    • The speaker says he will be at the table tomorrow.

      Happened

      The poem says, "Tomorrow, / I'll be at the table / When company comes."

    • The speaker says he will leave America and never come back.

      Didn't happen

      He never talks of leaving. He ends by saying, "I, too, am America."

    • The speaker says they will see how beautiful he is.

      Happened

      The poem says, "They'll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed."

    • The speaker's mother cooks the meal for the company.

      Didn't happen

      No mother appears in the poem, and it never says who cooks the meal.

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