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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. 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) T.S. Eliot.
(b) Edgar Allan Poe.
(c) Byron.
(d) Shakespeare.

2. What does the author refer to as being the basis of a people's identity in Chapter 1, Part IV?
(a) Values.
(b) History.
(c) Family.
(d) Economy.

3. Who was the first Kenyan African Drama and Literature officer that oversaw the Schools Drama Festival?
(a) Obi Wali.
(b) Léopold Sédar Senghor.
(c) Alan Paton.
(d) Wasambo Were.

4. What does the Gĩkũyũ word "ngurukuhĩ" translate to in English?
(a) Child.
(b) Horse.
(c) Man.
(d) Missile.

5. How far is Kamĩrĩĩthũ from Nairobi?
(a) 50 km.
(b) 30 km.
(c) 20 km.
(d) 10 km.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the word "vacillating" mean as used in Chapter 1, Part VI?

2. Who wrote Betrayal in the City?

3. The author states in Chapter 1, Part V that economic and political control can never be complete or effective without what?

4. 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?

5. With whom did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o collaborate in the drafting of the playscript for Ngaahika Ndeenda?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is David Diop and what was his perspective on language?

2. What were Léopold Sédar Senghor's views on language?

3. What are the two main strands of the petty-bourgeoisie in Africa that the author describes in Chapter 1, Part VI?

4. Describe the theater that was erected at the Kamĩrĩĩthũ Community Education and Cultural Centre. Where was it located?

5. What are the three aspects of language as means of communication?

6. What does the author ask about writers who continue to write in foreign languages in Chapter 1, Part VIII?

7. How did the literature of Africa change during the upheaval between imperialism and liberty?

8. What role did drama play in pre-colonial Kenyan life?

9. What does the author describe as the effects of one's written language being separated from one's environmental language?

10. How does the author describe the peasant's relationship to language in Chapter 1, Part VII?

(see the answer keys)

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