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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The name “Ogbenyealu” carries which of the following meanings in the text?

2. How old does Richard report having been when he was orphaned?

3. The phrase “a flat, sallow gray, like a poorly wiped blackboard” (196) offers an example of which of the following?

4. Which of the following universities does Odenigbo note is represented in Nsukka?

5. Which of the following does Odenigbo’s friend Adebayo drink?

Short Essay Questions

1. What virtue does Ugwu ascribe to the arigbe herb?

2. What differences does Uguw mark between himself and other houseboys?

3. Explain the meaning of “Better be late than THE late” (32).

4. Why does Odenigbo reject the idea of pan-Africanism?

5. Why does Richard note wanting Kainene to accompany him to Martin’s wedding in London?

6. To what does Ugwu ascribe his upset stomach when he visits his parents’ home?

7. Why does Olanna note thinking that her driver needs to believe in the Sardauna’s survival?

8. How does Ugwu’s aunt describe a refrigerator to him?

9. What reasons does Ugwu give for hoping Odenigbo does not ask him to recite poetry from class?

10. What things does Olanna note having left behind in Nsukka when she evacuates to Abba?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider Olanna’s comment that “love comes first and the reasons follow” (286). Is the comment accurate? What in Half of A Yellow Sun and in experience suggest that it is or is not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the poem Ugwu notes having memorized in Chapter 4:

I can’t forget that I’m bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me.
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters rushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new. (105-06)

What resonance does the poem have in its context in the novel? How does that resonance emerge?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout Half of A Yellow Sun, characters make reference to “a Big Man.” How does the text define the term? How do you know?

(see the answer keys)

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