Kelly Au H.W. # 1 AP English Pd.

fastidious: Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail. accommodate: (of physical space, esp. a building) Provide lodging or sufficient space for. exhilarated: Make (someone) feel very happy, animated, or elated. memorandum: A note or record made for future use. vagrancy: the state of wandering from place to place; having no permanent home or means of livelihood. insinuate: Suggest or hint (something negative) in an indirect and unpleasant way. unequivocal: Leaving no doubt; unambiguous: "an unequivocal answer". goading: Provoke or annoy (someone) so as to stimulate some action or reaction.

1) What is ironic about the name of the neighborhood? The name of the neighborhood, Bottom, is ironic because it's the highest location of Medalhood and is up on the hills. On page 3 it reads, "It stood in the hills above the valley town of Medallion..." Also on page 4 it reads, "A joke. A nigger joke. That was the way it got started. Not the town, of course, but that part of town where the Negroes lived the part they called the Bottom in spite of the fact it was up in the hills." 2) What is the cause of Shadrack's mental illness? The cause of Shadrack's mental illness is his time when he was at war. It traumatised him when, Shadrack saw soldiers exploding and dying in

front of him. Shadrack couldn't handle the unexpected deaths that surrounded him, and it drove him insane. On page 8, Toni Morrison used vivid imagery to show what Shadrack saw, "...he turned his head a little to the right and saw the the face of a soldier near him fly off. Before he could register shock, the rest of the soldier's head disappeared under the inverted soup of bowl of his helemt. But, stubbornly, taking no direction from the brain, the body of the headless soldier ran on, with energy and grace, ignoring altogether the drip and slide of brain tissue down its back." 3) Explain "Suicide Day" "Suicide Day" is created by Shadrack and only celebrated by him. It's a day where Shadrack goes around Bottom with a cowbell and a hangman's rope, telling people if they want to kill themselves, they'll have to do it then or there won't be another chance. On page 14 it reads, "On the third day of the new year, he walked through the Bottom down Carpenter's Road with a cowbell and a hangman's rope calling the people together. Telling them that this was their only chance to kill themselves or each other." He created such a day, because he hates unexpected deaths that occurs. Shadrack wants to create a day where if people wants to die, they'll all do it on that day, so unexpected deaths won't occur later on the year. On page 14 it reads, "It was not death or dying that frightened him, but the unexpectedness of both. In sorting it all out, he hit on the notion that if one day a year were devoted to it everybody could get it out of that way and the rest of the year would be safe and free." 4) Describe the racist incident on the train. Helene and her daughter, Nel, went to the white train cart, and is suppose to go to the colored one. To save herself from embarrassment, she didn't exit the cart, but instead chose to go through the doors connected to the colored cart. The conductor saw her and got upset with the fact that there was a colored women in the white section. He confronted and talked to her informally and impolitely. While Helene tried to be poilte as possible with him, the conductor made rude remarks back. On page 20 it reads, "What you think you doin', gal?" and on page 21 it reads, "We don't 'low no mistakes on this train. Now git your butt on in there."