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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 comment that “It was like somebody sprinkling pepper on his wound” (462) offers an example of which of the following?

2. Which of the following cities reportedly sees demonstrations in response to starvation in Biafra?

3. Which of the following books is given to Olanna’s schooling efforts?

4. The phrase that “it was as if she was throwing shackles off her wrists” (292) offers an example of which of the following?

5. Which of the following journals does Ugwu note having attempted to read?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons does Ugwu give for disliking the relief food?

2. What reasoning does the priest Olanna visits give her for forgiving Odenigbo?

3. What reasons does Olanna note for her anger at Odenigbo for his infidelity?

4. What is Kainene’s reaction to Richard’s determination to attend a memorial for Winston Churchill’s death?

5. How does Olanna describe Muokelu?

6. What, ultimately, is the obunigwe?

7. For what in her past does Olanna grieve?

8. What reasons does Ugwu note for his soured opinion towards Eberichi?

9. What reason is given for the lack of supplies at the relief center?

10. For what does Olanna upbraid her father at her mother’s request?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Explain the significance of Ugwu coming across a copy of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself while conscripted.

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