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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the male narrator try to buy from the women on board?

2. What do the passengers do to ease their nausea?

3. What does the male narrator say has finally made him an African?

4. Who said, "Maybe it's like you've always said. I imagine too much?"

5. How old is Celianne?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens in the male narrator's dream?

2. Think about the two different styles of writing each narrator uses. What does this tell us about them?

3. Describe the Banyan tree. Why is it important?

4. What does the narrator's father call Ville Rose? How is this ironic?

5. What does the male narrator ponder regarding gender?

6. What do we find out about the female narrator's boyfriend from Manman? How does this mirror Manman's own life?

7. At what point does the female narrator's father feel hurt? What internal struggles seem to prevent him from reaching out?

8. Describe the relationship between Manman and the female narrator.

9. What concern does the female narrator's father express for the male narrator? How is this significant?

10. What happens after the female narrator thanks her father? What is significant about this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Think about the old man on the boat. What do you think his presence represents? Why do you think he is always looking over the narrator's shoulder as he writes? Why do you think the narrator asks him to tell his story to his parents? What do you make of the old man's vision?

Essay Topic 2

Think about the female narrator's relationship with her mother. What parallels do we see in both their lives? How does her mother try and repair the relationship between the narrator and her father? Is she successful?

Essay Topic 3

Think about the elements of the story that are repeated. What literary function does this serve? What is its effect on the narrative? Be sure to use examples.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 911 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample