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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 foods has Harrison cooked when Richard confesses his perfidy to Kainene?

2. Which of the following countries reportedly recognizes Biafra in response to starvation therein?

3. Whom of the following do Richard and Kainene see die in an air raid?

4. Which of the following does Ugwu see leaving Odenigbo’s room?

5. What news does Olanna receive when Odenigbo visits her apartment after his infidelity?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the stated significance of Port Harcourt to Biafra?

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

3. What reasons does Madu give for wanting Richard to document conditions in Biafra?

4. Why does Olanna note the upstairs living room in her parents’ house is called the ladies’ parlor?

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

6. What lures Ugwu outside the first time a conscription attempt is made on him?

7. How does Olanna describe Muokelu?

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

9. What reasons does Ugwu note for suspecting foul play from Odenigbo’s mother?

10. Why does Richard confess his perfidy to Kainene?

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

Throughout Half of A Yellow Sun, there are glosses presented of sections of other books that are mentioned in the novel as being composed by characters within the novel. What effect do the presentations have, and how is that effect achieved?

Essay Topic 3

To what extent does the epigraph from Achebe at the beginning of Half of A Yellow Sun suggest the theme of the book? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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