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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 Bessie's opinion, South African refugees are generally, what?

2. What does Bessie call Southern Africa?

3. According to Bessie, what do African people push aside?

4. How do most black friends in South Africa meet?

5. Bessie Head was born in what year?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Bessie given up for adoption?

2. Why did Bessie keep all the notes that the American woman gave her?

3. What more compassionate details concerning her mother did Bessie learn over time?

4. Why is Bessie so drawn to the American woman in "Woman from America"?

5. In "Village People," how does Bessie describe the black African people?

6. How does Bessie describe the Botswana flag to students during the independence celebration?

7. In "The Woman From America," what was the biggest threat that this woman and her husband posed to the village?

8. Why is there no rage and oppression in Botswana?

9. How did Bessie react when she was forbidden to visit her adoptive family on school holidays?

10. What lasting effect did the treatment by the missionaries have on Bessie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oppression stunted and almost obliterated Bessie's creativity. And yet, the musician, Makeba, seemed to revel in it. Why do you think it would affect two people so differently? Is it a question of passion? Does it create more passion for some and less for others? Do you think that Makeba's passion for liberation fueled her in a creative sense? Did she use the situation to her own advantage? Did Bessie's avoidance of anything liberatory or revolutionary deny her this? Had she been more liberal, might she have been able to write?

Essay Topic 2

Bessie's views of the white man were formed at an early age. List two experiences in Bessie's early life that you think had a profound effect on her opinion of the white man? List the experiences and Bessie's response to them. Later in life, Bessie was able to see some good in the white man and her hatred lessened. Explain the person and the circumstances surrounding this.

Essay Topic 3

The artist, Gladys Mgudlandlu, was extremely popular in South Africa because of her escapism theory. Why does Bessie refer to her as "the exuberant innocent"? Does she think of her and her escapism theory as naïve? Does she see it as not wanting to deal with real issues? Do you think Bessie thought it was wrong of her to encourage the black South Africans to just "sit back and let God deal with it"? Was this just offering them a good excuse to do nothing about their situation? If there was no oppression, do you think that this artist would have been as popular?

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