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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. When Belinda attended school in Adurubaa, how did she always perform when test results were announced?

2. Which act by the pallbearers inspires the mourners to respond with cheers?

3. Who helps Mary come up with an alter ego who will help her pretend that she loves her work and life?

4. What kind of handles are said to be the most valuable at the market?

5. In what manner does Amma reply when her mother calls her downstairs to greet her father?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does Nana bring Belinda to a shopping district in London?

2. What major difference in relation to pets does Belinda relate to Mary in their first phone call after being parted?

3. Discuss a striking use of metaphor that occurs in the prologue.

4. Who is Amma and in what ways does she act as a foil to Belinda?

5. What negative aspects of Mary's presence seem to affect Belinda?

6. What element of the burial scene in the prologue most upsets Belinda?

7. How does Belinda succeed in calming Amma down when she has begun to sob during the visualization exercise?

8. What types of clues does Donkor provide to suggest that Mary might have endured trauma in her past?

9. In what way does the sound motif enter the narrative in relation to Belinda's feelings toward Mary?

10. How does the theme of hope enter the narrative when Belinda impresses upon Amma her wish that Amma attend the Ghanafoo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of dissatisfaction and acceptance function within Housegirl and what is Donkor’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Donkor in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of Housegirl. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Donkor’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the instances of irony within the narrative of Housegirl and analyze Donkor’s purpose for including each instance you discuss.

(see the answer keys)

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