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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Bessie's suffering in South Africa created in her a reverence for what?
(a) Ordinary people.
(b) Peace.
(c) Innocence.
(d) Quiet.

2. What does Bessie state was totally absent in her?
(a) Political fervor.
(b) Sense of history.
(c) Empathy.
(d) Sense of belonging.

3. What did the British bring to South Africa, which aided women as food producers?
(a) Chickens.
(b) Iron hand-plough.
(c) Shovels.
(d) Sheep.

4. How many major tribes are there in Botswana?
(a) 5.
(b) 4.
(c) 2.
(d) 3.

5. What writer does Bessie quote in "Social and political pressures . . ."?
(a) Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
(b) Mark Twain.
(c) Ernest Hemmingway.
(d) Harriet Beecher Stowe.

6. Why did Bessie say the South African experience so difficult for her to deal with in a creative sense?
(a) It was evil.
(b) She had no family for support.
(c) She had too much inner turmoil.
(d) She couldn't get past her own personal views.

7. What was the name of the conquered tribe in Botswana?
(a) Bomangwato.
(b) Basarwa.
(c) Bangato.
(d) Batawna.

8. In "God and the underdog," Bessie states that there is nothing that moves her more deeply than what?
(a) The emancipation of African blacks.
(b) Children with no future.
(c) The history of the Jews.
(d) Poverty.

9. In Chapter2, how does Bessie describe her third novel, "A Question of Power"?
(a) Intensely personal and private.
(b) The most satisfying.
(c) A work of excruciating detail.
(d) Difficult to write.

10. Bogadi marriages are arranged to retain what?
(a) Suppression of women.
(b) Cattle wealth.
(c) Control.
(d) Polygamy.

11. In Chapter 2, Bessie states that Botswana has survived by what?
(a) Having few whites.
(b) Lack of violence.
(c) Sheer luck.
(d) The grace of God.

12. What is the result of the casual sexual practices of the men of Botswana?
(a) More poverty.
(b) Rise in alcoholism.
(c) High rate of illegitimate births.
(d) AIDS epidemic.

13. What people did the Bushmen resemble?
(a) Chinese.
(b) White Afrikaners.
(c) Black South Africans.
(d) Black Irish.

14. In "God and the underdog," what do the Ku Klux Klan members discover when they get to heaven?
(a) Their families are not there.
(b) God is a black woman.
(c) They're really in hell.
(d) The gates are locked, to them.

15. In Chapter 2, whose religious ideas hold great appeal for Bessie?
(a) The local bishop.
(b) Buddah.
(c) Professor Mbiti.
(d) The Pope.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Notes on novels," Bessie states that wealth and privilege are dependent on what?

2. When did Bessie first get published?

3. Bessie describes Botswana men as what?

4. What is a "bogadi," in African culture?

5. How did the British refer to Botswana in the early 1800's?

(see the answer keys)

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