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35 pages 1 hour read

ZZ Packer

Brownies

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2003

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Quiz

How to use

This flexible-use quiz is designed for reading comprehension assessment and activity needs in classroom, home-schooling and other settings. Questions connect to the text’s plot, characters, and themes — and align with the content and chapter organization in the rest of this study guide. Use quizzes as pre-reading hooks, reading checks, discussion starters, entrance/exit “tickets,” small group activities, writing activities, and lessons on finding evidence and support in a text.

 

Depth of Knowledge Levels: Questions require respondents to demonstrate ability to: 

  1. Recall and Understand Content (e.g., who, what, where, when) 
  2. Apply and Analyze Ideas (e.g., how and why)

Questions

1.     What is wrong with Octavia’s mother, Mrs. Hedy?

A)   She is suffering from illness.

B)   She is going through a divorce.

C)   She lost her job.

D)   Her sister died.

2.     What do baby pigeons symbolize in this story?

A)   the things in the world outside of Laurel’s limited experience

B)   the innocence of young people

C)   Laurel’s fascination with the world around her

D)   Laurel’s belief in goodness

3.     Why does Mrs. Margolin let Arnetta get away with things?

A)   Arnetta makes Mrs. Margolin laugh.

B)   Arnetta flatters Mrs. Margolin with compliments.

C)   Arnetta plays along with Mrs. Margolin’s religiousness.

D)   Arnetta is Mrs. Margolin’s daughter.

4.     What is the best way to characterize Octavia?

A)   a domineering bully who faces trouble at home

B)   a misunderstood class clown whom the adults ignore

C)   a fiercely independent girl who wants to stand up for justice

D)   a vain girl eager for the approval of her peers

5.     What’s so enjoyable to the girls about using the word “Caucasian” as an insult?

A)   They don’t know what it means and think it sounds funny.

B)   It reminds them of the boy they all made fun of together.

C)   They’re making fun of Janice for using the word wrong.

D)   It’s a reversal of the racism that they’ve seen and been warned about.

6.     Why does Laurel find Daphne so fascinating?

A)   Daphne’s quiet nature reminds Laurel of herself.

B)   Daphne is the only person in the troop that Laurel thinks is smarter than her.

C)   Daphne’s poem and her behavior hint at a maturity born out of struggle.

D)   Daphne and Laurel occupy the same social role in the Brownie troop.

7.     What best describes Laurel’s social status in her Brownie troop?

A)   She is Octavia’s sidekick.

B)   She is an outsider.

C)   She is the brains of the operation.

D)   She is the funny goofball.

8.     What explanation is given for why one of the girls in Troop 909 may have used a racial slur?

A)   They have trouble behaving.

B)   They haven’t encountered Black people before and don’t know better.

C)   They have trouble interacting with people who are different from them.

D)   They repeat what they hear without knowing what it means.

9.     On the bus ride, the conversation implies that the troop is attending the same camp as the developmentally disabled for what reason?

A)   The girls are aware of the way society treats Black women.

B)   The girls have unusually intense prejudice toward the developmentally disabled.

C)   The girls realize that they are financially unable to go to a better camp.

D)   The girls feel ashamed of their behavior before they knew about Troop 909’s members.

10. Why does Laurel’s father ask the Mennonites to paint his porch?

A)   He can’t afford to pay someone to do it.

B)   He enjoys the reversal of racial dynamics.

C)   He wants to show his daughter the impressive dedication the Mennonites embody.

D)   He wants to teach her that others will take advantage of her if she lets them.

11. How does Octavia respond to Laurel’s suggestions when they are making their plans? (short answer)

12. What is the significance of Daphne referring to Laurel by her real name? (short answer)

13. Why does Daphne relate to the Mennonites in Laurel’s story? (short answer)

14. How does Laurel’s story about her father relate to the plot of “Brownies”? (short answer)

 

15. What’s ironic about the everyone calling Laurel “Snot” throughout the story? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion:

How does the girls’ treatment of Troop 909 represent a broader power dynamic between different groups (whether they are divided by race, disability, religion, sexuality or another factor)?

Discussion Suggestion:

How does the first-person child’s point of view function as a rhetorical and narrative device in this story? What does it allow the story to do that an adult or third-person point of view would not?

Answers

1.     B

2.     A

3.     C

4.     A

5.     D

6.     C

7.     D

8.     B

9.     A

10. B

11. She ignores or discounts them (even when they are proven correct).

12. Daphne treats Laurel with dignity and respect, which no one else does.

13. She has an awareness of her own family’s poverty and low status.

14. It is another instance of the way people mistreat those who have a different identity.

15. The girls are all very concerned with making sure no one calls them by an insulting name, despite casually denigrating Laurel.

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