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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What inexplicable activity does the character who unexpectedly appears in Ndotsheni with the village chief and magistrate participate in?
(a) They mark the ground with sticks and flags.
(b) They dig up and remove buckets of dirt.
(c) They cut down trees.
(d) They pull up crops.

2. Who effectively saves Kumalo from being sent away by the Bishop?
(a) Arthur Jarvis’ son.
(b) His congregation.
(c) The tribal chief.
(d) James Jarvis.

3. What vocation does Gertrude think she would like to try?
(a) She wants to be a nun.
(b) She wants to be a nurse.
(c) She wants to be a teacher.
(d) She wants to be a secretary.

4. Which statement best describes John Harrison Sr. and Jr.’s relationship with blacks’ rights?
(a) Both John Sr. and Jr. were against equality for blacks.
(b) John Sr. was against equality for blacks while John Jr. supported it.
(c) John Jr. was against equality for blacks while John Sr. supported it.
(d) Both John Sr. and Jr. were supported of equality for blacks.

5. Which of the following does John Harrison, Sr. hope will happen when the murderer is caught?
(a) He hopes he is jailed for life without parole.
(b) He hopes he is executed.
(c) He hopes he is sent to a forced labor camp in the mines.
(d) He hopes he is sent to a religious reformatory for rehabilitation.

6. What did Absalom do with the revolver after the murder?
(a) He sold it.
(b) He threw it in a river.
(c) He buried it in a plantation.
(d) He hid it at the home of a friend.

7. What is James Jarvis’ main concern before learning of his son’s death?
(a) He is concerned because there is a drought.
(b) He is concerned that the government is trying to buy his land to mine.
(c) He is concerned that local blacks are constantly begging for food.
(d) He is concerned because a mysterious disease is killing his cattle.

8. What does Kumalo eventually find out happened to Sibeko’s daughter?
(a) She was killed by a cart in the street.
(b) She committed suicide after her husband died in the mines.
(c) She became a prostitute and disappeared.
(d) She started making liquor and was jailed.

9. What is the name of the agricultural demonstrator Jarvis hires for Ndotsheni?
(a) Lincoln.
(b) Washington.
(c) Napoleon.
(d) Cromwell.

10. What word best describes the relationship between James and Arthur Jarvis?
(a) Antagonistic.
(b) Nonexistent.
(c) Distant.
(d) Harmonious.

11. Whose death devastates the villagers of Ndotsheni?
(a) Gertrude.
(b) The tribe’s chief.
(c) Kumalo’s wife.
(d) Jarvis’ wife.

12. Who reveals to the Jarvises that their son has been murdered?
(a) A local police captain, Van Jaarsveld.
(b) Their son’s brother-in-law, John Harrison.
(c) Their daughter in law, Mary Jarvis.
(d) Stephen Kumalo.

13. What sentence does the Judge give to Absalom?
(a) Death by lethal injection.
(b) Death by firing squad.
(c) Death by hanging.
(d) Death by electric chair.

14. What natural phenomenon is afflicting Umzimkulu valley when Kumalo returns home?
(a) Drought.
(b) Monsoons.
(c) Locusts.
(d) Forest fires.

15. What other weapon was carried by one of the two accomplices?
(a) A knife.
(b) A bat.
(c) A second revolver.
(d) An iron bar.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word for God does Kumalo use when praying?

2. Which adjectives does Mrs. Lithebe use to describe the people she thinks Gertrude should not spend time with?

3. What do the villagers do to memorialize this person?

4. What final feeling does the novel have about the future of Africa?

5. What building does Jarvis’ wife want to finance for Ndotsheni?

(see the answer keys)

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