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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Alfa use to create the entity he hopes will warn people off his hiding place for the hands?
(a) A sharpened rat bone.
(b) Dirt.
(c) A dye made from flowers.
(d) A steel blade.

2. How does Alfa help Mademba prepare for war enough so that he will be accepted into the army?
(a) By training him with a sword and feeding him a lot of food to help him gain weight.
(b) By showing him how to use a rifle.
(c) By showing him movies of war.
(d) By reading him war stories.

3. What does Alfa put on the trunk where he keeps the severed hands to keep people out of it?
(a) A talisman.
(b) A totem.
(c) A smear of tar.
(d) A knife.

4. When do the white soldiers suddenly decide to stop obeying Captain Armand?
(a) In the depth of winter.
(b) In the heat of summer.
(c) In the spring, around Easter.
(d) Between Alfa's fifth and sixth hand.

5. Why do some white soldiers say they will stop obeying the captain?
(a) They think the captain drinks too much.
(b) They think the captain has lost the confidence of the general.
(c) The think the captain is a spy.
(d) They think his whistle signals the enemy of their approach, increasing their mortal danger.

6. Who does Alfa lose his virginity to?
(a) Mademoiselle Henri.
(b) Mary Ba.
(c) Fary Thiam.
(d) Penndo Hero.

7. What does the doctor have Alfa and the others do to help them through their trauma?
(a) Dance.
(b) Sing.
(c) Watch television.
(d) Draw.

8. What slang term do Alfa's fellow soldiers use for the Germans?
(a) Aryans.
(b) Kids.
(c) Krauts.
(d) Jerrys.

9. How does Alfa think Captain Armand sees him?
(a) As someone who could spoil all his ambitions in the war.
(b) As someone who could help him win the war in the right circumstances.
(c) As someone who should never have left his job as a coal miner.
(d) As someone to be feared because of his powers of sorcery.

10. What does Alfa say Mademba Diop looked like?
(a) He was weak, small, and ugly.
(b) He was average.
(c) He was strong and attractive.
(d) He was too tall to be considered handsome by western standards.

11. What does Alfa wait for before trying to catch a German soldier in Chapter XII?
(a) For his hands to stop shaking.
(b) For their singing to stop.
(c) For the soldiers to stop eating.
(d) For the moon to go behind a cloud.

12. What did the chief of Alfa's old village once propose that the village grow exclusively?
(a) Wheat.
(b) Peanuts.
(c) Corn.
(d) Soybeans.

13. Who is Mademba's father?
(a) Marshall Diop.
(b) Sire Diop.
(c) Davi Diop.
(d) Harvre Diop.

14. What does Alfa compare his doctor to?
(a) A chef.
(b) A schoolmaster.
(c) A drill sergeant.
(d) A village chief.

15. Who is Alfa trying to avenge in Chapter XII?
(a) Jean-Baptiste.
(b) His sister.
(c) His father.
(d) His mother.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did people in Gandiol sometimes tell Mademba about Alfa?

2. What term does Alfa use to describe all the white soldiers?

3. What is the second drawing Alfa makes for the doctor?

4. Why does everyone smile at Alfa in the recuperation center?

5. Why did Mademba want to go to war?

(see the answer keys)

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