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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT a language that Patricia taught to the author?
(a) Afrikaans.
(b) Tsonga.
(c) Xhosa.
(d) English.

2. What does the name Nombuyiselo mean?
(a) "She who gives back."
(b) "The Fixer."
(c) "She who popped out of nowhere."
(d) "A builder of ships."

3. Why was the author surprised when Patricia insisted that he go see his father?
(a) Patricia hated the author's father.
(b) The author thought his father was dead.
(c) The author did not know who his father was.
(d) The author and his father had not spoken in ten years and the author assumed they would never speak again.

4. What answer did Patricia give when the author asked her why she chose to give birth to him?
(a) She wanted someone that would love her whom she could love in return.
(b) She had him to spite the apartheid regime.
(c) She had him by accident.
(d) She had him out of love for his father.

5. Who did the author accuse of tricking his mother into going to church the day they were threatened in the minibus?
(a) Trevor claimed that he tricked her himself.
(b) He accused the Devil.
(c) He claimed that the pastor tricked his mother.
(d) He accused God.

6. How did the shopkeeper in the story "Chameleon" respond when Patricia proved she could understand Afrikaans?
(a) He began speaking a language she could not understand.
(b) He apologized for racially profiling her.
(c) He insulted her pronunciation.
(d) He insisted he never said anything inappropriate.

7. When was the Immorality Act passed?
(a) 1977.
(b) 1927.
(c) 1827.
(d) 1877.

8. What did the author say he had learned about Robert after they spent the weekend together?
(a) He learned that Robert was a jerk.
(b) He learned that Robert was secretive.
(c) He learned that Robert was humble.
(d) He learned that Robert was wise.

9. How did the author react as a child when children in the neighborhood called him white?
(a) He thought they had their colors confused.
(b) He was proud.
(c) He was worried.
(d) He thought they were racists.

10. Who taught Patricia how to navigate Johannesburg without being deported to the Bantustans?
(a) Food vendors.
(b) Police.
(c) Mini-bus drivers.
(d) Prostitutes.

11. Why did the author cry after he and Patricia retrieved Fufi?
(a) He cried because Fufi loved another boy.
(b) He cried because the other boy gave him a vicious cussing out.
(c) He cried because Fufi bit him.
(d) He cried because Patricia was so impatient with him.

12. What nationality is listed on the author's birth certificate?
(a) Xhosa.
(b) Swiss.
(c) South African.
(d) Swazi.

13. Why was the author unable to call his father "dad" growing up?
(a) The author had a speech impediment and could not pronounce the word "dad."
(b) The author never met his father.
(c) His dad did not want a child cramping his style.
(d) It would reveal that his father had slept with a black woman.

14. Why did Robert's steakhouse close?
(a) They received a health code violation.
(b) The government insisted that he needed to have separate toilets for every racial category.
(c) Robert ran out of money.
(d) Robert closed it after changing his mind about apartheid.

15. What happened when the author tried to show his friend how to burn his name into pieces of wood?
(a) His friend wrote a bad word and blamed it on the author.
(b) The author and his friend started a moderately successful wood furnishing business.
(c) They accidentally burned down the author's friend's house.
(d) They wrote their names in the side of the house and got in trouble.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did people in Soweto use the author as a landmark for giving directions when he was young?

2. Where did Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko go to school?

3. Who did the author forget was in the house when he defecated on the newspaper?

4. When does the author believe that a person is most themselves, according to the story "Pray, Trevor"?

5. What did the author believe about the dog Fufi before the vet looked at Fufi's corpse?

(see the answer keys)

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