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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. Which of the following schools does Kainene note she and Olanna attended?

2. With which of the following companies does Richard report Kainene negotiated?

3. The word “ndo” carries which of the following meanings in the text?

4. Which of the following sports does Odenigbo report playing?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How are Richard’s university-provided accommodations described?

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

5. What reasons does Olanna give for preferring train travel to plane travel?

6. What is the first ethical question Odenigbo poses to Ugwu?

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

8. How do Olanna’s parents report planning to flee Biafra?

9. What does Olanna report to Odenigbo upon her return to Nsukka after the second coup?

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 Richard’s attitudes toward being a writer expressed at the beginning of Chapter 3. How do they shift throughout the novel? What effect do the shifts have? How are the shifts indicated? How do they generate their effects?

Essay Topic 2

Sources attest to the presence of Half of a Yellow Sun on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Kainene remarks that “There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable” (435). What is meant by the remark? What in Half of A Yellow Sun supports it, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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