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

2. In the book Facing Mount Kenya, the Ituĩka ceremony is described as lasting how long?
(a) Three months.
(b) Six months.
(c) Two weeks.
(d) Two months.

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

4. Who founded the Theatre of the Oppressed?
(a) Bob Dixon.
(b) Augusto Boal.
(c) Karl Marx.
(d) Amos Tutuola.

5. When was Things Fall Apart published?
(a) 1969.
(b) 1962.
(c) 1982.
(d) 1959.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many wives did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's father have?

2. What statement largely sums up the author's central theme in Chapter 1, Part IV?

3. 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?

4. When was the Bata shoe factory established?

5. What does the author refer to as being the basis of a people's identity in Chapter 1, Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What are the three aspects of language as culture?

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

4. What are the main characters anticipating in the opening of Ngaahika Ndeenda?

5. What is the basic plot of Ngaahika Ndeenda?

6. What role did song and dance have in the original production of Ngaahika Ndeenda?

7. What dramas was the author exposed to during his education?

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

9. How does the author describe the significance of land in Kenya?

10. When did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o cease writing in English? What were his first works in Gĩkũyũ?

(see the answer keys)

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