How Far You Have Come Quiz: 20 Questions on Morgan Harper Nichols' Book

This quiz covers the full arc of Morgan Harper Nichols' memoir-in-essays, from the 1996 family road trip to the Texas plains where her writing life began. Questions are grouped by type: plot/sequence, character motivation, theme/symbol, and synthesis. Answer key with explanations follows.

Before you begin: If you need a refresher, see the book overview, questions and answers, or ending explained.

Plot & Sequence (8 questions)

1. (Multiple choice) In the opening chapter, the family's departure from Georgia is delayed until late afternoon. What event is the city preparing for at that time?

A) A presidential visit
B) The Summer Olympics
C) A civil rights march
D) A music festival

2. (Multiple choice) In the Alabama chapter, the narrator recalls a professor telling her she is failing. What specific consequence follows her final exam?

A) She is placed on academic probation
B) She receives a letter confirming she failed out of college
C) She is asked to retake the course
D) She drops out voluntarily

3. (Short answer) In the Mississippi chapter, what object does the narrator pull from the family library that leads her to imagine the unnamed girl and her mother?

4. (Multiple choice) During the Louisiana service trip, the narrator chooses to work alone. What task does she perform at the first gym?

A) Painting walls
B) Sweeping floorboards
C) Sorting donations
D) Building shelves

5. (Multiple choice) In the Texas chapter, what does the narrator write on a rainy November night when she cannot find a melody?

A) A short story
B) A twelve-line poem
C) A letter to her parents
D) A list of career goals

6. (Multiple choice) In the New Mexico chapter, the narrator drives through Albuquerque in two different years. What does she observe but decide not to do?

A) Visit a museum
B) Hike the La Luz Trail
C) Attend a festival
D) Meet a friend

7. (Multiple choice) In the Arizona chapter, what happens to the only set of crayons during the drive?

A) They are lost at a rest stop
B) They melt in the back window
C) They are given to the sister
D) They are left at the Grand Canyon

8. (Multiple choice) In the California chapter, what does the narrator do during her father's sermon about King David?

A) Takes detailed notes
B) Draws in her composition notebook
C) Sings with the choir
D) Reads a book about sea turtles

Character Motivation (5 questions)

9. (Multiple choice) In the Alabama chapter, why does the narrator wade into West Point Lake?

A) To join friends for a swim
B) To wash away spiraling thoughts and find cleansing
C) To prove she is a strong swimmer
D) To collect water samples for a class

10. (Short answer) In the Mississippi chapter, the narrator imagines the unnamed girl and her mother fleeing through the woods. What does she wish she could do for them?

11. (Multiple choice) In the Louisiana chapter, why does the narrator choose to work alone rather than with her dorm-mates?

A) She is angry at them for pairing off
B) She feels called to silent service and works without expectation
C) She wants to finish quickly to study
D) She is assigned to a separate site

12. (Multiple choice) In the Texas chapter, what motivates the narrator to post her poem online?

A) She believes it will launch her music career
B) She is certain no one will see it and considers it a farewell to art
C) She wants to impress a record label
D) She hopes to get feedback from a mentor

13. (Multiple choice) In the California chapter, what does the narrator's father do that affirms her creative identity?

A) He frames her drawing
B) He praises her art after she shows it to him
C) He buys her new crayons
D) He encourages her to sing

Theme & Symbol (4 questions)

14. (Multiple choice) In the Alabama chapter, the blackbird soaring freely serves as a symbol of what?

A) Academic success
B) Fearlessness and freedom
C) The passage of time
D) Family loyalty

15. (Multiple choice) In the Mississippi chapter, the Mississippi River is primarily associated with which theme?

A) Economic hardship
B) Freedom and the hope of escape
C) Natural beauty
D) Industrial progress

16. (Multiple choice) In the New Mexico chapter, the wind is used as a symbol of what?

A) The unattainable and fleeting nature of moments
B) The narrator's anger
C) The power of memory
D) The vastness of the desert

17. (Short answer) In the California chapter, what two symbols are used to represent homecoming and dignity? (Name both.)

Synthesis (3 questions)

18. (Short answer) Across the book, the narrator repeatedly faces failure (college, music career, financial strain) but finds a way to begin again. Name one specific turning point from any chapter where she chooses hope or renewal.

19. (Multiple choice) Which of the following best captures a central message of the book?

A) Success is measured by external achievements
B) We must let go of rigid plans and trust that beauty can guide us
C) Family expectations always shape our identity
D) Travel is the only path to self-discovery

20. (Short answer) The book opens with a child on a road trip and closes with the narrator as an adult making art. How does the motif of drawing or creating art evolve from the Arizona/California chapters to the Texas chapter?

Answer Key

1. B — The opening chapter states the city is preparing for the Summer Olympics, a frequent topic at home.

2. B — The narrator recalls that a letter to her parents' house confirms she failed out of college.

3. The letter M volume of the encyclopedia — She pulls the letter M and finds the Mississippi entry with the 1860 map and the photograph of the unnamed girl.

4. B — She sweeps floorboards at a destroyed community gym.

5. B — She writes a twelve-line poem in her journal, which she later posts online.

6. B — She considers hiking the La Luz Trail but does not stop, admiring the rocks from a distance.

7. B — The crayons melt in the back window of the Volvo without air conditioning.

8. B — She draws in her composition notebook instead of taking notes during the sermon.

9. B — She wades into the lake to wash away spiraling thoughts; the waves have a cleansing quality.

10. Travel back in time to carry them into their future freedom — She imagines reaching across the trees to offer them an escape in the car.

11. B — She finds peace in silent service and works without expectation, concluding that sometimes acts of service are best done alone.

12. B — She posts it in a corner of the internet she is certain no one will see, as an ode to failure and a farewell to art.

13. B — After she shows her drawing to her father, he affirms her art, and she continues drawing from then on.

14. B — The blackbird is described as fierce, free, and fearless, and the narrator wants to be like her.

15. B — The river is seen as a passageway that brought many people into freedom; the narrator chooses to believe the girl and her mother made it across.

16. A — The wind symbolizes the unattainable and the fleeting nature of beautiful moments, which the narrator cannot hold onto.

17. Sea turtles and palm trees — Sea turtles symbolize homecoming; palm trees symbolize dignity.

18. Accept any specific turning point, e.g., in Alabama she surfaces from the water and decides to let go of fear; in Texas she shares her poem and later receives messages of hope; in Mississippi she chooses to believe the girl and her mother made it across.

19. B — The book repeatedly emphasizes letting go of rigid plans, trusting beauty and signs, and beginning again after failure.

20. In Arizona/California, drawing is a private act of self-expression and identity, affirmed by her father. In Texas, creating art becomes a public act of connection—she shares her poem, receives responses from strangers, and writes to connect with others, turning personal expression into communal hope.