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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who wrote the book African Language Literatures that is referred to in Chapter 1, Part VII?
(a) Albert Gerard.
(b) Amos Tutuola.
(c) Martin Carter.
(d) Birago Diop.

2. The author states in Chapter 1, Part IV, "Language as culture is the collective memory bank of a people's" what (15)?
(a) "Experience in history."
(b) "Family and bloodline."
(c) "Suffering and domination."
(d) "Perceptions of outsiders."

3. The author poses the question in Chapter 1, Part VIII, "What is the difference between a politician who says Africa cannot do without imperialism and the writer who says Africa cannot do without" what (26)?
(a) "Western philosophies."
(b) "Western ideologies."
(c) "European languages."
(d) "European culture."

4. Who wrote Contes d'Amadou Koumba?
(a) Gabriel Okara.
(b) Amos Tutuola.
(c) Birago Diop.
(d) Martin Carter.

5. What term used by the author in the Introduction is defined by him as having the effect of annihilating a people's belief in their names, languages, unity, and ultimately, themselves?
(a) A cultural bomb.
(b) Communal restructuring.
(c) Segregation.
(d) Educational restructuring.

6. When did the author submit The River Between to a writing competition by the East African Literature Bureau?
(a) 1989.
(b) 1961.
(c) 1969.
(d) 1956.

7. About how many children did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's father have?
(a) 16.
(b) 22.
(c) 28.
(d) 13.

8. In Chapter 1, Part IV, the author states that "Language, any language, has a dual character: it is both a means of communication and" what (13)?
(a) "A product of necessity."
(b) "A symbol of unity."
(c) "A carrier of history."
(d) "A carrier of culture."

9. When were Kamĩrĩĩthũ and the other villages around Limuru established?
(a) The 1970s.
(b) The 1950s.
(c) The 1940s.
(d) The 1960s.

10. Where did Dr. Kimanĩ Gecaũ flee to in 1982?
(a) Cameroon.
(b) Algeria.
(c) The Democratic Republic of Congo.
(d) Zimbabwe.

11. What were largely featured as the main characters in the stories that Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o grew up listening to as a child?
(a) Animals.
(b) Women.
(c) Goddesses.
(d) Gods.

12. What does "Maitũ Njugĩra" translate to in English?
(a) A Meeting in the Dark.
(b) Devil on the Cross.
(c) Mother Sing for Me.
(d) I Will Marry When I Want.

13. Who are the peasant and his wife awaiting the arrival of in the opening of Ngaahika Ndeenda?
(a) Mĩriĩ and Awli.
(b) Gakaara and Watu.
(c) Obi and Jalaa.
(d) Kĩoi and Jezebel.

14. When was the Ituĩka ceremony banned in Kenya?
(a) 1944.
(b) 1919.
(c) 1925.
(d) 1942.

15. What does the author refer to as the result of the broken harmony between the three aspects of language as communication for the colonial child?
(a) Colonial distinction.
(b) Colonial aberration.
(c) Colonial alienation.
(d) Colonial affectation.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 1, Part IV the author states that language as communication has three aspects. The first of these is the language of real life, which he attributes to having been coined by whom?

2. How many years of involvement had Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o spent writing literature in Englis when the author began writing in Gĩkũyũ?

3. Hausa is the first language of approximately how many people?

4. What was the wall made of that stood at the back of the stage at Kamĩrĩĩthũ?

5. On what date did Ngaahika Ndeenda open to a paying audience?

(see the answer keys)

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