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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What analogy does Alfa use for Mademba's suffering in Part I?
(a) It is like the moon.
(b) It is like a snake.
(c) It is like heat.
(d) It is like barbed wire.

2. In what way does Mademba actually die?
(a) A German soldier hangs him.
(b) A German solder disembowels him.
(c) A German soldier shoots him.
(d) He is shot by one of his own infantrymen.

3. What forces Alfa to ignore Mademba's suffering as Mademba is dying?
(a) The voice he hears in his head, telling him not to kill Mademba.
(b) Jean-Baptiste's songs.
(c) His commander's whistle.
(d) His own prayers.

4. What does Captain Armand tell Alfa that he needs in Part II?
(a) Rest.
(b) Prayer.
(c) Better food.
(d) Water.

5. What does Alfa think "the Captain's France" requires of him and other Black soldiers?
(a) For them to eat as much as possible.
(b) For them to write a lot of letters home telling their people everything is OK.
(c) For them to "play the savage" when it is required of them.
(d) For them to go first and into the most dangerous territory in battle.

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

7. What does Alfa claim he reeks of?
(a) Hell.
(b) Righteousness.
(c) Prayer.
(d) Death.

8. What medal is Alfa told he will be awarded in Part II?
(a) The Croix de Guerre.
(b) The Gold Star.
(c) The Wallingford.
(d) The Purple Heart.

9. In Chapter XI, what does Jean-Baptiste become that eventually leads to his death?
(a) A cook.
(b) A unit leader.
(c) A provocateur.
(d) An informant.

10. How far away do his fellow soldiers begin staying from Alfa?
(a) Two fields' length.
(b) Six meters.
(c) Nine leagues.
(d) Ten large steps.

11. Where does Alfa often kill the enemy soldiers in Chapter III?
(a) The forest on the German side.
(b) By the river.
(c) No-man's-land.
(d) His own trench.

12. How does Alfa always kill the enemy soldiers?
(a) He disembowels them.
(b) He hangs them.
(c) He poisons them.
(d) He shoots them.

13. 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 becomes like a snake.
(c) He makes himself a little inhuman.
(d) He calls on his sorcerer ancestors and becomes like a sorcerer.

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

15. In Chapter III, what does Alfa think of his fellow soldiers?
(a) He thinks they are intelligent.
(b) He thinks they are very brave.
(c) He does not have any opinion of them.
(d) He thinks they are idiots who cannot think for themselves.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter II, what does Alfa think the trenches look like?

2. In Chapter V, who does Alfa confess he was listening to right around the time when Mademba dies?

3. What was the only thing Alfa was thinking about as Mademba died?

4. Who translates the words of Captain Armand for Alfa?

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

(see the answer keys)

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