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Reading Comprehension Quiz (Joyce Carol Oates, “The Cruelest Sport”)

Reading Comprehension Quiz

Joyce Carol Oates, “The Cruelest Sport”

Read “The Cruelest Sport” and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Click the submit button when finished.

Question What type of essay is this?

1. What type of essay is this?

expository

descriptive

narrative

argumentative

Question This article was published in The New York Review of Books. Who might be the intended audience for this article?

2. This article was published in The New York Review of Books. Who might be the intended audience for this article?

students of Advanced Placement courses

high school teachers

college-educated readers of critical books

amateur boxers

Question What is the purpose of this article?

3. What is the purpose of this article?

to review two books about boxing

to comment on boxing in America

to tell the story of Muhammad Ali

All of the above.

Question In the sections about Muhammad Ali, what can the audience infer about Oates’ feelings about him?

4. In the sections about Muhammad Ali, what can the audience infer about Oates’ feelings about him?

She feels that he is stupid.

She admires his accomplishments.

She loathes him and the sport he personifies.

She believes he doesn’t deserve his legendary status.

Question Only one of the books that Oates reviews is about Muhammad Ali, but the article is dominated by his history. Why might Oates have chosen to do this?

5. Only one of the books that Oates reviews is about Muhammad Ali, but the article is dominated by his history. Why might Oates have chosen to do this?

Even today, Ali is the most famous boxer in history, and no modern criticism or review of boxing would be complete without him.

Ali is far more interesting than the boxer in the other book, and thus it was more interesting for readers of the review to read about Ali.

The book about Ali was larger; therefore, logically, the review about his book needed more coverage.

None of the above.

Question Oates references different pieces of literature throughout the article, notably Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear and Greek tragedies. What purpose does this serve for the audience?

6. Oates references different pieces of literature throughout the article, notably Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear and Greek tragedies. What purpose does this serve for the audience?

Oates is elevating the rhetoric within the piece to appeal to her primary audience.

Because most people have never boxed but have read some tragedies, people can identify with the boxers and understand both the horror and appeal of the sport.

Oates is trying to distance the reader from the brutal violence of boxing by tying it to the imagination of viewers of plays.

The allusions create colorful references that appeal to certain members of her reading audience while alienating the others.

Question What tone does Oates achieve in this article?

7. What tone does Oates achieve in this article?

righteous anger

moral ambiguity

intellectual curiosity

All of the above.

Question Based on this article, what role do audience members play in the world of boxing?

8. Based on this article, what role do audience members play in the world of boxing?

Audience members are guilty of destroying the boxers.

Audience members are vicious, horrible people who wish for death at each match.

Audience members are innocent of any wrongdoing in regards to boxers.

None of the above.