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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. The masks in Act 1, Scene 2, signify what?

2. What is proof of the new bride's virginity?

3. Which literary medium does Soyinka's work fall under?

4. In whose home does the second scene take place?

5. In which year did the actual occurrence described in the play take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Iyaloja and what is her role?

2. What is it that moves Pilkings out to stop Elesin's death ritual?

3. Is Elesin's death useful to the Yoruban people by the end of the story? Why or why not?

4. How are the Pilkings' associated with Elesin and his family?

5. Why does Soyinka claim (in the author's note) that the play is not a clash between two cultures (Yoruban and British)?

6. Describe Elesin Oba's character, as presented by Soyinka.

7. How are Pilkings and Elesin alike?

8. What is Elesin doing when Amusa comes to arrest him?

9. Explain the opening scene of Act 1, Scene 1. What do you find out about Elesin Oba?

10. How does Olunde react when he sees Jane in the ancestral mask?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pilkings and Elesin are similar in many more ways than are directly visible to either of them. Explain the similarities that lie between Elesin and Pilkings and postulate as to why Soyinka would have chosen to add that particular element to the story.

Essay Topic 2

How might the meaning of the story change, had the author only stated that the British involvement was crucial to the plot?

Essay Topic 3

Each culture [British and Yoruban] holds varying views on death and death's meaning. How does each culture's view of death differ? Why might these differences cause conflict or confrontation between the two cultures?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 777 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample