King of the Bingo Game

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. The smell of what item of food makes it difficult for the protagonist to “contain his hunger”?

2. What did the protagonist see on a woman’s neck after leaving the theater the previous day?

3. What is the jackpot prize, and which numbers must the wheel land on?

4. What profound statement does the narrator make on the stage?

5. What name is the protagonist “reborn” as?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does the protagonist compare the South to the North? What item does he use to make this comparison?

2. Why does the old man chide the protagonist during the film? What does the old man then offer him?

3. What is the protagonist’s motivation for winning bingo? Describe his initial strategy for winning the game.

4. Why does the crowd and the man with the microphone become agitated with the protagonist? How does the protagonist respond?

5. What phrases does the protagonist shout into the audience? Who is called onto the stage, and what do they force the protagonist to do?

Paired Resource

King of the Bingo Game (1999)

• Director Elise Robertson’s 1999 short film is an adaptation of Ellison’s story.
• As an adaptation, Robertson’s film connects with the same themes of the story: The Great Migration and Dislocation Between North and South, Dostoevsky’s Underground Man and the Rejection of Social Norms, and Invisible Man and African Americans Coming of Age Through Existential Crisis.
• Compare and contrast Robertson’s film to Ellison’s story. Does the adaptation stay true to the original text? If so, how?

Recommended Next Reads 

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

• Ellison’s 1952 novel explores the characterization established in the 1944 “King of the Bingo Game” within his discussion of structural racism and its effect on Black communities.
• Ellison’s novel connects with the themes The Great Migration and Dislocation Between North and South and Invisible Man and African Americans Coming of Age Through Existential Crisis.
• Ellison’s novel includes the shared topics of an unnamed African American protagonist, negotiating racist spaces, and structural racism.
• Invisible Man on SuperSummary

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella, which centers on the Underground Man’s reflection on life, influenced Ellison’s short story.
• Dostoevsky’s novella relates to the theme of Dostoevsky’s Underground Man and The Rejection of Social Norms.
• Dostoevsky explores unusual narration styles in the psyche of his short story protagonist, an approach that Ellison also uses in this story.
• Notes From Underground on SuperSummary