The Rock and The River

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Based on direct and indirect characterizations in the first half of the novel, how do Father and Stick compare?

A) Both are willing to endure racism for the sake of community peace.

B) They both see confrontation as one tool among many to address racism.

C) They both want civil rights for Black people but differ on how to achieve it.

D) Both believe that peaceful demonstrations will help the Black community.

2. How do Stick and Sam show respect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he visits the Childs’s home?

A) They decide not to read the Black Panther literature while Dr. King is in the house.

B) They confront Dr. King about not endorsing violence and listen to the minister’s explanation.

C) They ask Dr. King to autograph the family Bible.

D) They turn off the television and turn down the radio while Dr. King tells them about his march on Selma.

3. Which of the following best describes Sam’s reaction to watching the white police officers beat Bucky?

A) Silently praying, he waits to see what will happen.

B) He tries to pull one officer off Bucky, but the other officer restrains him.

C) He runs away, leaving Bucky at the mercy of the police.

D) Frozen by fear, he does nothing.

4.  What does Sam find in his carefully designed block tower?

A) He finds his brother’s gun, wrapped in a shirt.

B) He finds notes detailing plans for Black Panther protests.

C) He finds Black Panther pamphlets that were left there by his brother.

D) He finds nothing, which is alarming as he keeps his diary in the tower.

5. Which statement best describes the conversation that Father and Stick have after Father returns from the King service in Atlanta?

A) They decide to work together to achieve equality for the Black community.

B) They argue until Father tells Stick he cannot stay in his house and continue his association with the Black Panthers.

C) They argue until Mama suggests that they pray together.

D) They agree to disagree on the issue of whether violence is sometimes justified in the fight for social justice.

6. When Father tells Sam that people are more afraid of ideas than guns, what does he mean?

A) Sam should wait until he is old enough to vote and then express his displeasure at white racism.

B) Violence against white people will never effect real change.

C) Riots will scare white people sufficiently to change the system.

D) Dr. King’s peaceful resistance failed and now Black Americans should take to the streets.

7. Which of the following best describes Sam’s state of mind after Stick is injured during a Black Panther protest?

A) He is caught between joining the Panthers’ resistance movement and his father’s message of nonviolence.

B) He has finally become convinced that he should join the Panthers.

C) He refuses to talk to his brother about the Panthers and offers only medical help and food.

D) He spends a restless night in prayer.

8. Which statement best summarizes Sam’s experience surrounding Charlie’s confrontation with the white police officers?

A) He resigns himself to the hopelessness of ever achieving real change for the Black community.

B) He speaks up in defense of Charlie, only to find himself threatened with arrest.

C) He sees that the Black Panther movement is a viable alternative when Panther members intervene and stop the beating.

D) He feels so helpless and ashamed that he runs home and locks himself in his room.

9. Why does Sam take a gun to the demonstration on the day of Bucky’s trial?

A) He takes it without thinking—he was trying to keep Father from seeing it in his room.

B) Raheem slips it to him after school, and Sam understands he is part of the Black Panthers.

C) He takes the gun because he fears the demonstration might get violent.

D) He believes Black people must protect themselves and—as he tells his father—if not now, when?

10. Which statement describes Sam’s reaction to the police confrontation after the trial?

A) He understands that white police officers are motivated not by racism but by a desire to protect the entire community.

B) He understands that the Black Panthers provoke white people’s outrage and that violence is not going to work.

C) He understands that Black youths must never confront white police.

D) He understands that racism has not stopped even though the verdict suggests that his father’s methods work.

11. What is the most likely motivation for Sam’s destruction of his block tower after his brother’s shooting?

A) Destroying the tower will infuriate his father, who dreams of his son’s success as an architect.

B) Destroying the tower is his way to cope with the anger he feels over his brother’s shooting.

C) Destroying the tower helps Sam overcome his feelings of helplessness by making something, anything, happen.

D) Destroying the tower is Sam’s way of embracing violent change.

12. What does the interrogation by white police officers reveal to Sam?

A) He must develop self-sufficiency and learn to stand up for his own integrity.

B) White police officers, although morally wrong, act out of their perception of what is best for the community.

C) The only way to forward the civil rights movement is to cooperate, even with white police.

D) His father is right—violence is wrong and only got him arrested.

13. Which of the following best describes Sam’s thoughts outside the clinic after Stick’s funeral?

A) Violence is the only message that racist white Americans will hear.

B) The Black Panthers, for all their support of radical aggression, also support community development.

C) Punishing the white police officer who shot his brother is the only way to make things right.

D) Punishing the officer responsible for his brother’s shooting cannot bring his brother back.

14. Which statement best describes what Sam realizes through the parable of the rock and the river?

A) Sam embraces the idea that fighting for change is like the rock that stays still and does nothing while the events of history flow past it.

B) Sam embraces the idea of peaceful coexistence with white people.

C) Sam understands that he must be like a river in confronting the reality of racism and working within the system to effect change.

D) Sam understands that he can do nothing to change racist America.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. The plot of The Rock and the River centers on Sam’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The novel suggests that the central element of that transition is the willingness to accept change. Take any scene in the novel after Dr. King’s assassination. Summarize how the scene shows Sam beginning to adjust to change.

2. Exploring the theme of The Impact of Racism on Personal Development, the novel suggests that Sam’s transition into adulthood is affected by his identity as a Black male in a white racist society. What elements make his coming-of-age experience unique?

3. The novel uses the metaphor of architecture to suggest the process of building. The metaphor can include building a family, a community, even a sense of self-identity. What does Sam learn about that process?