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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is there little public interest in Absalom’s murder trial?
(a) Because a mining strike was causing violent outbreaks all over the city.
(b) Because newspapers did want to draw attention to black violence against whites.
(c) Because a more prominent politician was recently murdered and his killer was still at large.
(d) Because gold had been discovered in Odendaalsrust.

2. What do Ndotsheni’s children lack which is causing them to die in greater than average numbers?
(a) Vitamin C.
(b) Malaria medicine.
(c) Milk.
(d) Clean water.

3. What final feeling does the novel have about the future of Africa?
(a) It is anxious and uncertain about when racial equality will be achieved.
(b) It is optimistic that racial equality will be achieved.
(c) It is pessimistic that the races will ever live in harmony.
(d) It indicates Africa will soon undergo violent revolution to achieve change.

4. What word for God does Kumalo use when praying?
(a) Unkulunkulu.
(b) Mulungu.
(c) Tixo.
(d) Tumu.

5. What is the Jarvis boy excited to practice with Kumalo?
(a) Afrikaans.
(b) Basic accounting.
(c) Prayers.
(d) Zulu.

6. What is the rumored purpose of the ground markings left by Jarvis and the magistrate in Ndotsheni?
(a) They mark out a village dairy.
(b) They mark out a new village school.
(c) They mark out a dam.
(d) They mark out a new church.

7. Which of the following worry that John Kumalo’s speech to black miners could lead to an uprising?
(a) The police.
(b) James Jarvis.
(c) None of these answers.
(d) Msimangu.

8. Which adjectives does Mrs. Lithebe use to describe the people she thinks Gertrude should not spend time with?
(a) Idle and careless.
(b) Promiscuous and vulgar.
(c) Greedy and immoral.
(d) Brutal and mean.

9. Kumalo gets a packet of mail all at once. Which character does NOT send him a letter?
(a) Msimangu.
(b) Absalom.
(c) Gertrude.
(d) Mr. Carmichael.

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

11. What was the name of the accomplice carrying this weapon?
(a) Johannes Pafuri.
(b) Baby Mkize.
(c) Richard Mpiring.
(d) Matthew Kumalo.

12. Which character does Kumalo’s friend, who works on the Jarvis farm, tell him is sick?
(a) James Jarvis.
(b) Arthur Jarvis’ son.
(c) Arthur Jarvis’ wife.
(d) Margaret Jarvis.

13. How many bullets were in the revolver at the time Absalom shot Arthur?
(a) Four.
(b) One.
(c) Three.
(d) Two.

14. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways the agricultural demonstrator intends to improve the farming in Ndotsheni?
(a) He wants the village to invest in more cattle to fertilize the land.
(b) He wants farmers to plant the land communally rather than individually.
(c) He wants to plant more trees.
(d) He wants to implement new patterns of plowing.

15. Which of the following does John Harrison, Sr. hope will happen when the murderer is caught?
(a) He hopes he is executed.
(b) He hopes he is jailed for life without parole.
(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.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many black miners die during their short-lived strike?

2. What does James have a hard time looking at each day upon entering Arthur’s house?

3. What ceremony does the Bishop come to Ndotsheni to celebrate?

4. How does Kumalo’s wife react to the addition of Absalom’s wife and Gertrude’s child to the family?

5. Which sacrament is performed immediately following the sentencing in the prison?

(see the answer keys)

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