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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does the Jarvis boy tell Kumalo he will be leaving for Johannesburg?
(a) When the new year begins.
(b) When his grandfather returns from Pretoria.
(c) When his grandmother’s illness ends.
(d) When his mother and grandfather find them a new house to live in.

2. What does the phrase Nkosi Skielel’ iAfrika mean?
(a) Africa for Africans.
(b) Africa unite.
(c) Africa forever.
(d) God save Africa.

3. At whose house did the police eventually find Absalom?
(a) Baby Mkize's house.
(b) Johannes Pafuri's house.
(c) Joseph Benghu's house.
(d) Ndlela Germiston's house.

4. Where does Kumalo put his energy immediately upon returning from Johannesburg?
(a) He talks to community leaders about how to rejuvenate the tribe’s agriculture.
(b) He throws himself into rebuilding his church.
(c) He starts a letter-writing campaign for Absalom to avoid the death penalty.
(d) He isolates himself with his family to bond them into a unit.

5. Which of the following best describes James’ attitude towards blacks before reading Arthur’s papers?
(a) Disinterested and distasteful.
(b) Actively hateful.
(c) Actively progressive.
(d) Respectful but indifferent.

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

7. Where does Kumalo keep vigil during Absalom’s execution?
(a) Up a mountain.
(b) By the sea.
(c) The Jarvis fields.
(d) Deep into the forest.

8. Who has disappeared on the morning Kumalo is set to return to Ndotsheni?
(a) Absalom’s wife.
(b) Gertrude.
(c) Msimangu.
(d) Mrs. Lithebe.

9. Who do Arthur and Margaret visit as a brief respite from the trial?
(a) Margaret’s niece Barbara.
(b) Margaret’s cousin Mary.
(c) Margaret’s sister Anne.
(d) Margaret’s girlhood friend Jane.

10. What day is Absalom set to be executed?
(a) None of the above.
(b) The first of the month.
(c) The fifteenth of the month.
(d) The thirtieth of the month.

11. Who performs the sacrament that is performed immediately following the sentencing in the prison?
(a) Kumalo.
(b) Father Vincent.
(c) A prison chaplain.
(d) Msimangu.

12. Complete the following statement Kumalo makes when Arthur Jarvis’ son announces he will soon leave Natal: “When you go, something _______ will go out of Ndotsheni.”
(a) Harmonious.
(b) Joyful.
(c) Important.
(d) Bright.

13. 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 gold had been discovered in Odendaalsrust.
(c) Because a more prominent politician was recently murdered and his killer was still at large.
(d) Because newspapers did want to draw attention to black violence against whites.

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

15. Before the murderer is caught, who is suspected of the crime of killing Arthur?
(a) Someone who was once an employee of Arthur’s.
(b) Someone who committed the murder in a random act of gang violence.
(c) A racist white who dislikes Arthur’s agitation for black rights.
(d) Someone on the orders of Dubula and John Kumalo.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does Kumalo use to describe a quality about Arthur to James?

2. Why does Kumalo also appear at the same house that Arther and Margaret are visiting as a respite from the trail?

3. What is Absalom’s wife’s response to her new home?

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

5. Which character unexpectedly appears in Ndotsheni with the village chief and magistrate?

(see the answer keys)

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