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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who do Arthur and Margaret visit as a brief respite from the trial?

2. Which of the following best describes James’ attitude towards blacks before reading Arthur’s papers?

3. What time of day will Absalom be executed?

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

5. Which of the following is NOT a reason the Bishop wants to send Kumalo away from Ndotsheni?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the villagers’ reaction to Kumalo’s return to Ndotsheni, from the time he gets off the train until he reaches the church.

2. Compare and contrast the ways the novel ends “happily” versus the way it ends “unhappily.”

3. What becomes Kumalo’s obsession when he returns to Ndotsheni, and what ways does he act on it? What are the results of his efforts?

4. What surprises James Jarvis most about people’s reaction to his son’s death?

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

6. Compare and contrast Absalom and his wife’s reactions to their wedding.

7. Briefly summarize Arthur Jarvis’s argument about the responsibility of whites to blacks in the papers James Jarvis reads.

8. Briefly describe the relationship between James and Arthur Jarvis. How does it differ from Arthur’s relationship with his mother?

9. 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.”

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss examples of foreshadowing in Cry, the Beloved Country. What is foreshadowed at the train station when Kumalo departs? How does the author employ foreshadowing to increase tension in the story?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast how city life and rural life are presented in the novel. Which is given precedence, and how? Do you think this is a fair and accurate assessment of the virtues and vices of each lifestyle? Why or why not? Be sure to support your argument with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the structure of the novel. How do the sections that step out of the main plot serve the story? How and why does the author occasionally use the first person (“we” and “us”) and second person (“you”)? How do rhetorical devices like repetition and metaphor enhance the narrative? Do you think these techniques are effective in drawing the reader more deeply and personally into the world of the novel? Why or why not? Be sure to support your argument with examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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