View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Alfa say on the subjects of blame and God in Chapter XII?

2. Who does Alfa lose his virginity to?

3. What does Alfa think the war has done to him in Chapter XIV?

4. How does Alfa think Captain Armand really feels about war?

5. What does Alfa think Fary Thiam started doing before he did?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Alfa think the war has done to him, as he explains in Part III?

2. Why do the soldiers in Alfa's unit decide to disobey Captain Armand in Part III?

3. What method does Doctor Francois use to help patients work through their trauma?

4. Why does Alfa suspect his father lets him be adopted by another family?

5. What did Alfa do to try to catch the person who killed his friend Jean-Baptiste?

6. How were Mademba and Alfa different?

7. What does Alfa do to make sure no one finds his severed hands?

8. What does Alfa come to believe about God's role in what happens in war in Part III?

9. Why does Alfa suspect his father did not let him go with Penndo Ba when she left?

10. Why does everyone think Penndo Ba never returned to Gandiol?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Alfa begin to work through the horrors of his trauma from the war, and to what extent does he seem to successfully manage to address some of his deep psychological damage from the war at the hospital? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Alfa rape Mademoiselle Francois, and what tragic series of events leads up to this act of violence? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Alfa get along with his fellow soldiers, both white and black, during his time in the trenches? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 707 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample