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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 spirit does the male narrator say he has to throw his remaining possessions over to?

2. What does the male narrator say has finally made him an African?

3. What does the first narrator say the sea smells like?

4. Why does the male narrator feign nausea?

5. Where are the people on the boat sailing towards?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the background between Manman and the narrator's father. How does this mirror his expectations for his daughter?

2. What do we find out about the female narrator's boyfriend from Manman? How does this mirror Manman's own life?

3. What happened to the young man on the boat the first time he tried to sail to Miami?

4. How do the passengers spend time on the boat?

5. How does Madan Roger's behavior differ from that of the female narrator's family?

6. What bird do both of the narrators mention? In what way do each of them refer to it?

7. Describe the last time the male narrator saw his mother.

8. Describe the relationship between Manman and the female narrator.

9. Why does the female narrator's father stay at his brother's house? What character embodies this fear?

10. Think about the final paragraphs the male narrator writes. Explore the contrast between the "deep blue sea" and the "blood drenched earth." Do you agree with the narrator's idea that he was meant to be a "child of the sea?"

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Think about the two narrators' surroundings. What do their descriptions of the sea and the mountains foreshadow in the story? What does this tell us about their relationship?

Essay Topic 2

"If I was a girl, maybe I would have been at home and not out politicking and getting myself into something like this." Think about this quote from the male narrator. Do you think that his gender brings about the narrator's situation? What character on the boat could perhaps refute this claim? Do you agree with the narrator? Does gender determine safety?

Essay Topic 3

"I go to them now as though it was always meant to be, as though the very day that my mother birthed me, she had chosen me to live life eternal, among the children of the deep blue sea, those who have escaped the chains of slavery to form a world beneath the heavens and the blood-drenched earth where you live."

Consider the quote above. Explain its significance in the story. Pay special attention to syntax, tone, diction, imagery and meaning.

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