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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mademba ask Alfa to do for him in Part I?
(a) Feed him.
(b) Kill him.
(c) Pray for him.
(d) Take him home.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Why are the fires the men make in the trenches so small?

3. What does Alfa always do first to the soldiers he is going to kill?

4. How does Alfa repeatedly refer to Mademba Diop?

5. What does Alfa do when a retreat is called, in the wake of Mademba's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Alfa think about his fellow soldiers and his perceptions of who is really is in Part I?

2. What does Alfa do as a sign of honor for Mademba immediately after Mademba's death?

3. Why does Alfa feel almost entirely responsible for Mademba's death?

4. What does Alfa suspect about Sack's translation to him from Captain Armand?

5. How does Alfa repeatedly refer to Mademba in the narration?

6. What does Alfa begin to understand that his fellow soldiers think he is?

7. What does Mademba ask Alfa to do as Mademba lays mortally wounded on the battlefield?

8. What does Afla think of the trenches as when he takes Mademba back there with him following Mademba's death?

9. What was all Alfa could think about when he stayed with Mademba during Mademba's last hours?

10. What does Alfa let the reader know, through his narration, about the way his best friend Mademba died?

(see the answer keys)

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