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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. In “The Headstrong Historian,” what did Nwamgba believe killed her husband?

2. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” how does Akunna get a job after leaving her uncle’s house?

3. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," where was Nonso buried?

4. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," what time of year was it, when Nonso died?

5. In “The American Embassy,” how does the woman end the interview at the embassy?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” what difficulties does Akunna, the you of the story, encounter in dating a white man?

2. In “The Headstrong Historian,” how does Nwamgba end up sending Anikwenwa to learn English from the mission schools?

3. In “The Headstrong Historian,” how did Afamefuna validate Nwamgba’s values in the end of her life?

4. Who is the You in the story "The Thing Around Your Neck"?

5. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," what had the narrator told her mother to explain how Nonso had died?

6. Who are the main characters of the short story "Tomorrow is Too Far"?

7. In “The American Embassy,” what is the woman’s relationship with the man behind her in line?

8. In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” what did the arrangers of marriage not tell the narrator about her husband’s professional status?

9. How does the narrator characterize the rules in America, in "The Thing Around Your Neck"?

10. In “The Shivering,” how does Chinedu explain away Ukamaka’s objections about his logic regarding God’s will?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the titles relate to the stories? Choose three stories and explain the various resonances between title and narrative. Is there a trend you can identify, in how Adichie uses the titles to add to the meaning of the stories?

Essay Topic 2

Is there an arc that gives the disparate stories a narrative arc? Does this book have a climax that builds on the climaxes (or anti-climaxes) of the individual stories? What questions does the primary climaxes resolve? What questions does each the primary climaxes leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

What is the roles available to women in The Thing Around Your Neck? How are women portrayed? What kinds of choices do they get to make, and what is kept from them? How do they live within or rebel against these limits? How would you evaluate Adichie’s depiction of women in this collection of short stories? How are their roles and knowledge and behavior distinguished from the male characters?

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