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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the only thing Alfa was thinking about as Mademba died?
(a) Getting revenge on the soldier who killed Mademba.
(b) His prayers to his mother.
(c) How he himself would survive the day.
(d) His own starvation.

2. Whose "more-than-brother" does Alfa become in the wake of Mademba's death?
(a) Death's.
(b) Prayer's.
(c) God's.
(d) Life's.

3. Where do the soldiers Alfa kills in the night always come out of?
(a) A church.
(b) An outhouse.
(c) A mortal-shell hole.
(d) A kitchen.

4. What does Alfa do to the soldiers that he believes make them think he is about to rape them?
(a) Undress them.
(b) Touch their genitals.
(c) Begins to undress himself.
(d) Tells them he is going to rape them.

5. Where are most of the other Black soldiers from in the unit?
(a) Russia.
(b) West Africa.
(c) China.
(d) The Middle East.

6. What term does Alfa's unit use to refer to Black soldiers?
(a) Night Hawks.
(b) Sorcerers.
(c) Big Men.
(d) Chocolats.

7. What work of Pascal Quignard's does Diop reference in the beginning of Part I?
(a) Carmen.
(b) Camelot.
(c) The Vase.
(d) Mourir de penser.

8. What does Alfa do when a retreat is called, in the wake of Mademba's death?
(a) He retreats only after praying.
(b) He retreats only after firing his gun many times.
(c) He never retreats.
(d) He retreats at once.

9. What does Alfa do with Mademba's body after he dies?
(a) Leaves it on the battlefield.
(b) Carries it back to his trench.
(c) Burns it.
(d) Cuts it up and buries it.

10. Why are the fires the men make in the trenches so small?
(a) To make bigger ones would risk giving away their position to the enemy.
(b) The men are afraid of the heat.
(c) No one knows how to make proper fires.
(d) They only have a little wood.

11. How does Alfa repeatedly refer to Mademba Diop?
(a) My cousin.
(b) My more-than-brother.
(c) My soul mate.
(d) My nemesis.

12. What does Alfa think is necessary on the battlefield, as he narrates in Chapter VI?
(a) Madness.
(b) Food.
(c) Empathy.
(d) Prayer.

13. What does Alfa begin to think almost as soon as Mademba is dead?
(a) That he should have performed his magic above Mademba.
(b) That he should have slit Mademba's throat to put him out of his misery.
(c) That he should have taken Mademba on an airplane home.
(d) That he should have fed Mademba.

14. What is the Ndiaye totem?
(a) A lion.
(b) A peacock.
(c) An elephant.
(d) An alligator.

15. What does Alfa think of himself in Chapter III when he "leaves the belly of the earth"?
(a) He becomes like a peacock.
(b) He calls on his sorcerer ancestors and becomes like a sorcerer.
(c) He becomes like a snake.
(d) He makes himself a little inhuman.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Alfa missing one of his hands?

2. How do the Germans kill Jean-Baptiste?

3. What, in war, is "bravery's sister," according to Alfa?

4. What work of Cheikh Hamidou Kane's does Diop reference in the beginning of Part I?

5. Why does Mademba leave before the others on the day he dies?

(see the answer keys)

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