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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Hausa is the first language of approximately how many people?
(a) 10 million.
(b) 44 million.
(c) 20 million.
(d) 36 million.

2. The author states in Chapter 1, Part V that economic and political control can never be complete or effective without what?
(a) Physical control.
(b) Agricultural control.
(c) Environmental control.
(d) Mental control.

3. What does the word "Maitũ" translate to in English?
(a) Mother.
(b) Bride.
(c) Sister.
(d) Father.

4. What novel of the author's did he hope to give a transcript of to Chinua Achebe at the writers' conference described in Chapter 1, Part II?
(a) Weep Not, Child.
(b) A Grain of Wheat.
(c) Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ.
(d) The River Between.

5. On what date did the Kenya government ban any further performances of Ngaahika Ndeenda?
(a) October 2, 1977.
(b) September 12, 1976.
(c) March 30, 1977.
(d) November 16, 1977.

6. The author states in Chapter 2, Part V that "In the opening line of The Black Hermit the peasant mother is made to speak in a poetic language reminiscent in tone of" whom (43)?
(a) Edgar Allan Poe.
(b) T.S. Eliot.
(c) Shakespeare.
(d) Byron.

7. When did the Kenya Land and Freedom Army usher in the era of modern guerilla warfare in Africa?
(a) 1965.
(b) 1959.
(c) 1956.
(d) 1952.

8. Where did David Diop get his primary education?
(a) Mauritania.
(b) Guinea.
(c) Senegal.
(d) The Ivory Coast.

9. What does the Ituĩka ceremony mark?
(a) The onset of war.
(b) The marriage of an elder's son to a colonial daughter.
(c) The handing over of power from one generation to another.
(d) The birth of the first son in a family.

10. 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) "European languages."
(c) "European culture."
(d) "Western ideologies."

11. When was the Bata shoe factory established?
(a) 1962.
(b) 1938.
(c) 1959.
(d) 1944.

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

13. What is the name of the secret diary that Gakaara wa Wanjaũ kept while in political detention?
(a) Mwandĩki wa Mau Mau Ithaamĩrioinĩ.
(b) Matigari ma Njiruungi.
(c) Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ.
(d) Ngaahika Ndeenda.

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

15. What is the Kenya Land and Freedom Army otherwise known as?
(a) The Mau Mau.
(b) The Fante.
(c) The NCL.
(d) The Red Army.

Short Answer Questions

1. The chorus in Ngaahika Ndeenda asks where the grave is for whom?

2. The author states in Chapter 2, Part II that drama has origins in human struggles with what?

3. According to the author in Chapter 1, Part I, as an effect of colonization, Africa was defined in the languages of Europe. What three languages does he describe?

4. About how many children did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's father have?

5. In the repeated chorus in the scene from Ngaahika Ndeenda that is presented in the text, the lyrics state that problems can be settled in what?

(see the answer keys)

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