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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. When was the narrator's house burglarized?

2. What does Mr. Vercueil do with the little girls?

3. Where is the narrator's husband in Part One?

4. Where is the person the narrator finds at the start of Part One?

5. Who are the only two people the narrator say she would speak to on the phone?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator warn Florence of regarding hate?

2. What did Bheki and another teenage boy do?

3. What does the narrator tell the homeless man stories about on the trip into town?

4. What is unique about the aged woman's views on the apartheid system?

5. Who does the narrator reveal she is speaking to according to Part One, pg. 3-15?

6. What does the homeless men decline after answering questions about his birthplace?

7. What does the narrator ask the homeless man to do upon her death?

8. What does the narrator explain when a neighbor who calls on the phone?

9. Who does the narrator see parked outside of her house?

10. Who returns with her two young daughters and teenage son in Part Two, pgs. 35-56?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolism of cancer in "Age of Iron" and why Coetzee chose to use a terminal disease to show the relationship with apartheid, believed a disease of hatred.

Essay Topic 2

Based on the "Age of Iron", discuss whether suffering has any value for the characters.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how Coetzee addresses mortality throughout the "Age of Iron".

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This section contains 590 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample