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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 think the Captain and his fellow soldiers hope will happen to him when he returns to the Front from the Rear?

2. How does Alfa quickly begin to feel about the German soldier he kills in Chapter XII?

3. Who was the chief of Alfa's old village?

4. What do the villagers believe happened to Alfa's mother on her journey?

5. What does Alfa think about his own physical appearance?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Captain Armand tell Alfa he looked the other way at first when Alfa brought the severed hands back?

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

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

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

5. What happens to Alfa's father when Penndo Ba fails to return?

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

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

8. What is one convention of romantic relationships in Gandiol?

9. Why does Alfa think Mademoiselle Francois likes him?

10. Why does Penndo Ba leave Alfa's father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the apparent mystical merging of Alfa and Mademba in Alfa's body at the end of the novel relate to Diop's exploration of the theme of opposites that Diop focuses on throughout the novel? 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 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.

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