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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the name of the village where Kumalo lives?
(a) Ndotsheni.
(b) Carisbrooke.
(c) Sophiatown.
(d) Umzimkulu.

2. Which of the following does the black woman NOT lament?
(a) That she and her husband ever left their small village.
(b) That she cannot send her children to better schools.
(c) That she does not have enough money to buy her way higher on the housing waiting list.
(d) That she has to take in boarders to feed her family.

3. Where is Msimangu’s ministry for the disabled?
(a) Odendaalsrust.
(b) Umzimkulu.
(c) Ezenzeleni.
(d) Springs.

4. What is the main industry that drives Kumalo’s village?
(a) Industrial factories.
(b) Fishing.
(c) Mining.
(d) Agriculture.

5. How does Kumalo torture Absalom’s girl at first out of his disgust for her previous lifestyle?
(a) He tells her she must sleep with him if she wants to be looked after.
(b) He tells her he knows Absalom is not the baby’s father and they bear no responsibility for it.
(c) He tells her she must give the baby to him to raise with his wife while she remains in Johannesburg.
(d) He tells her Absalom has refused to marry her.

Short Answer Questions

1. What weapon did Absalom use to kill Arthur Jarvis?

2. What is the name of the woman who rents a room to Kumalo?

3. What country does Father Vincent come from?

4. Who promises to help Kumalo find his sister and his son?

5. Why does Kumalo humbly accept this apology rather than expressing his true feelings about the unnecessary anger directed at him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Kumalo upset that John Kumalo decides to get a lawyer to defend his own son in the trial about the murder?

2. What feelings do Stephen Kumalo and his wife have before they open the letter they receive at the beginning of the book? Why do they feel this way?

3. Describe three excuses Absalom gives to his father for why he killed Arthur Jarvis.

4. Describe the reaction of the pregnant girl to the prospect of living in Ndotsheni. Why does she react this way?

5. Explain how Kumalo and his wife a.) mainly intended to use their savings; b.) how they have to use it now; and c.) why this shift does not ultimately matter.

6. Explain why the lawyer, Mr. Carmichael, takes Absalom’s case without payment.

7. How does the white reformatory worker’s attitude toward Absalom differ from all the other people who have interacted with Absalom that Kumalo meets?

8. Describe some ways John Kumalo has changed since he moved to Johannesburg from Ndotsheni.

9. How does the first chapter describe the land of the Umzimkulu valley? How does this reflect on the state of the people who live there?

10. What are two ways Absalom seems to have been getting into trouble since moving to Johannesburg?

(see the answer keys)

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