The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood Short Essay Assignments

Short Essay Questions

The 60 short essay questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text. Students must describe what they've read, rather than just recall it.

Short Essay Question - Chapters One through Five

1. Describe the personalities of Mr. and Mrs. Oram.

2. How did Elsepth Huxley describe the smell of Africa?

3. How did Juma view the local inhabitants outside of Nairobi?

4. What were the Huxley's first impressions upon seeing the land that they had bought?

5. Why were the natives so fascinated by the lamp, but did not care about the gramophone?

6. How did Robin and Kupanya differ in their approach to negotiating the terms of a workers' contract?