The Test

This study guide will help you analyze the text “The Test” by Angelica Gibbs. We will show you examples of elements in the text that will be relevant for your analysis. In these notes, we will focus on the summary, structure, characters, setting, narrator and point of view, language, themes and message.

Presentation of the text

Title: “The Test”
Author: Angelica Gibbs
Published in: The New Yorker
Date of Publication: 15th of June, 1940
Genre: Short story

Angelica Gibbs (1908 - 1955) was an American writer of short stories and contributor to The New Yorker. Gibbs began submitting fiction to The New Yorker in 1931; she continued to write fiction, reviews, and contribute to its weekly columns for the next 23 years. “The Test” is one of Gibbs’ most popular short stories. It has been included in several short story collections, most notably in Primer for White Folks, where it appears alongside other stories that approach the theme of discrimination.