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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. How do the people treat Josiah after the incident at the bar?

2. Where does Odili decide to place his headquarters?

3. When Odili returns to Anata after first meeting Maxwell and his friends, where does he find a large crowd?

4. With whom does the PAP reveal that the Minister of Foreign Trade has been illegitimately making a profit?

5. What animals, after leaving the Odo house, ruin Odili's plan involving Edna?

Short Essay Questions

1. What seems to be the likely reason that Edna becomes angry with Odili in Chapter 12?

2. What sort of reception does Odili's political campaign receive in Anata?

3. What characterizes Odili's interaction with Chief Nanga at the Samalu house?

4. What significant action does Edna take toward Odili at the end of Chapter 10, and why is it significant?

5. Why do Boniface and the other bodyguards want 25 pounds, and why does Odili object?

6. What is the significance of the poem Maxwell wrote seven years ago?

7. In Chapter 10, how does Chief Nanga further expose his corruption regarding the office of Foreign Trade?

8. What characterizes Odili's arrival at his friend Maxwell's apartment?

9. What is the confusion about why Couple is put in jail?

10. How does Odili initially interpret Chief Nanga's order to move Elsie's bags into his absent wife's room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of Chapter 3, Odili briefly reflects on the selfishness of the new government in hoarding the leftover riches and treasures of the British government. Some critics, he states, think that because these individuals have so quickly risen to affluence, they would be more willing to give it up quickly. Why is this critical statement entirely untrue? What is it about human nature that makes people less willing to give up that which they have just received? How is this demonstrated through actions in the story?

Essay Topic 2

The major theme of "A Man of the People" is the struggle of man against political corruption. Which characters embody corruption? Which characters embody the struggle against corruption? In what ways do the struggling characters fail, and how do the exemplars of corruption ultimately falter?

Essay Topic 3

During Maxwell's impressive but inefficacious speech, it is revealed that the people have a certain resignation as to the greater affairs of state. Analyze this resignation: how it came about, why it persists, and what implications it has for the country within the story.

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