When I Was the Greatest

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

Multiple Choice

1. What are Noodles’s hobbies?

A) Cooking and eating unfamiliar recipes

B) Reading and drawing comic books

C) Watching and practicing boxing

D) Cutting and grooming hair

2. How did the boys get the black yarn for Needles?

A) Noodles stole it, but Ali paid anyway.

B) Ali stole it, but Noodles paid anyway.

C) They both stole it.

D) They split the cost of it.

3. Who is Malloy to Ali?

A) A coach

B) A neighbor

C) A father figure

D) All of the above

4. In which of the following actions by Noodles does Ali NOT bail him out?

A) When he is shoplifting yarn

B) When he is picking a fight with Black

C) When he is flirting with Tasha

D) When he is letting Noodles get beat up

5. What theme is best represented by the following quote from Tasha: “[T]his ain’t y’all block! Our neighbors don’t play around here! It’s quiet, and they like it that way!” (Chapter 9)?

A) The Complexities of Defining “Family”

B) The Effects of Inequality on the African American Experience

C) Fear of Embarrassment

D) None of the above

6. How does Ali’s father “take care of” the situation with the young men from the party?

A) He murders them.

B) He turns them in to the cops.

C) He gives them all his merchandise, including his car.

D) He helps the family leave town.

7. Which part of clothing is used as a symbolic way to judge people Ali meets?

A) Shoes

B) Haircuts

C) Bandanas

D) Jewelry

8. Which best describes Noodles’s feelings toward his mother?

A) Rage

B) Fear

C) Shame

D) Love

9. Which family is depicted as having the most money throughout the story?

A) Tasha’s family

B) Noodles’s and Needles’s family

C) Ali’s family

D) Black’s family

10. What does Jazz do for the people she likes?

A) She sings for them.

B) She lets them watch TV with her.

C) She bakes them cookies.

D) She gives them a nickname.

11. Which character is the strongest embodiment of the theme of Fear of Embarrassment?

A) Needles

B) Noodles

C) Jazz

D) Ali

Long Answer

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

1. Describe the relationship between Ali’s parents. Consider both the beginning and the end of the novel.

2. Ali’s mother tells him that he’ll know when he’s done bailing Noodles out. What is Ali’s breaking point? Why do you think that is?