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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 other action does Absalom claim he took after ridding himself of the weapon?
(a) He planned to run away from Johannesburg.
(b) He encouraged his accomplices to turn themselves in with him.
(c) He returned to the Jarvis house to try to revive Arthur.
(d) He prayed for forgiveness.

2. What time of day will Absalom be executed?
(a) Dawn.
(b) Dusk.
(c) Noon.
(d) Midnight.

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

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

5. What does James Jarvis express when Kumalo tells him Absalom’s execution date?
(a) He expresses relief that it will finally all be over.
(b) He announces he will visit the governor and try to get the decision reversed with a direct appeal.
(c) He promises to remember the day and think of Absalom and Kumalo.
(d) He weeps anew for his dead son.

Short Answer Questions

1. From which province do both Kumalo and Jarvis come?

2. How do the villagers react to the changes the agricultural demonstrator tries to implement?

3. Where does Kumalo keep vigil during Absalom’s execution?

4. As James reads Arthur’s papers, what claim does his son make that offends him?

5. What is the name of the agricultural demonstrator Jarvis hires for Ndotsheni?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the metaphorical usage of the rainstorm that occurs in Book Three, Chapter 3.

2. How does James Jarvis react when Kumalo tries to thank him for all the good work he is doing in Ndotsheni? Why does he likely react this way?

3. Describe how Kumalo reacts when the Bishop tells him he wants to remove Kumalo from Ndotsheni.

4. What happens to Gertrude at a church meeting at Msimangu’s mission? What does she do afterward?

5. How does the village chief’s interaction with the magistrate and James Jarvis support John Kumalo’s earlier statement about chiefs, “He is a trick, a trick to hold together something that the white man desires to hold together.”

6. Describe the incident Kumalo tells his friend about as a way of explaining his idea that James Jarvis is a compassionate man.

7. Compare Arthur Jarvis’ son’s attitude toward Kumalo and by extension blacks, to the attitude of the generations above him.

8. Summarize the main events of the meeting between James Jarvis and Kumalo at the house of Jarvis’ kinswoman Barbara Smith.

9. After reading more of his son’s papers, why does James Jarvis leave through the front of the house rather than walking past the blood-stained floor again?

10. Compare and contrast James Jarvis and John Harrison, Sr.’s attitudes towards blacks before James starts reading Arthur’s papers.

(see the answer keys)

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