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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 his Introduction that he will look at the African realities as affected by the great struggle between two opposed forces in Africa today. These are an imperialist tradition and what?
(a) A socialist tradition.
(b) A resistance tradition.
(c) An arbitrarary tradition.
(d) A realist tradition.

2. Where did the capitalist powers of Europe carve up the continent of Africa into different colonies in the late 1800s?
(a) Amsterdam.
(b) Berlin.
(c) London.
(d) Paris.

3. Whose perceptions of Africa does the author described in Chapter 1, Part V as "comparable to a land of childhood still enveloped in the dark mantle of the night as far as the development of self-conscious history was concerned" (18)?
(a) Gabriel Okara.
(b) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) Sir H. Rider Haggard.

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

5. With whom did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o collaborate in the drafting of the playscript for Ngaahika Ndeenda?
(a) Birago Diop.
(b) Martin Carter.
(c) Amos Tutuola.
(d) Ngũgĩ wa Miriĩ.

Short Answer Questions

1. Since when does the author state imperialism has affected the lives of even the peasants in the remotest corners of our countries in his Introduction?

2. What does the Gĩkũyũ word "ngurukuhĩ" translate to in English?

3. What is the Kenya Land and Freedom Army otherwise known as?

4. 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)?

5. For how long was Gakaara wa Wanjaũ imprisoned for his writings in Gĩkũyũ?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are language and communication products of each other?

2. What led the author to his choice of language in writing Ngaahika Ndeenda?

3. Who were the Mau Mau?

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

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

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

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

8. What was the Kamĩrĩĩthhũ Community Education and Culture Centre?

9. What is the basic plot of Ngaahika Ndeenda?

10. What literary convention does the author describe in Chapter 1, Part II? Who attended?

(see the answer keys)

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