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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. Why will Odili not retrieve Elsie in front of Chief Nanga?

2. What does Odili do after awaking at 4 a.m.?

3. How does Odili manage to talk to Edna alone in Chapter 9?

4. Who bars Odili from the school hall in Anata?

5. What is the name of the political party formed in Chapter 8?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about Odili and Edna's bicycle crash?

2. Describe the first impression given of Odo, Edna's father.

3. What sort of abuses of power does Chief Nanga exercise in his campaign?

4. What is suggested by the revelation that a junior member of Parliament is also a founding member of the CPC?

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

6. Describe the situation with Chief Nanga and the editor of the Daily Matchet, including its significance.

7. At what conclusion does Odili arrive after reflecting on the carpenter Timothy's statement?

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

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

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

As the chief protagonist and narrator of the story, Odili undergoes dramatic changes throughout the narrative, but as he is the one describing them, he does not explicitly state them. Trace the outline of Odili's character development and changes, being sure to answer the following questions:

1) In what regard does Odili primarily change?

2) In what ways does Odili seem to change, but ONLY seem?

3) What other characters and events have the biggest influence on Odili's changes?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the resolution of the story. Does it seem just for a military coup to overthrow the government? What are the motives of the military? What does this say about justice and politics? How is the future of Nigeria portrayed in "A Man of the People"?

Essay Topic 3

"A Man of the People" follows a common literary structure in which the action of the story moves one direction for the first half and then undergoes a reversal. Examine how this literary structure of plot parallels the development of the characters, as well as how it is essential to exposing the story's conflict, man vs. political corruption.

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