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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. How does Sergeant Beckles live, as Jones describes it in Chapter 16?

2. What does Rosa do to help Mira in Chapter 19?

3. Who comes up with the cover story that baby was kidnapped?

4. Who are two of Adan's friends he hangs out with after Baby's funeral?

5. How does Esme die?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Tone and Lala often do together when they become friends as youngsters?

2. How does Mira feel after Peter's children leave with their mother, Peter's first wife?

3. What are some reasons Lala does not leave Adan after he starts beating her?

4. What incident prompts Adan's first beating by his Auntie Petra?

5. Why is Sergeant Beckles so anxious to solve the mystery of Baby's death?

6. What huge secret is Tone keeping from Adan?

7. Who takes care of Mira after Peter's death, and how does this person act around Mira?

8. Where does Lala stumble in Part III after a particularly bad beating by Adan?

9. What proposition does Adan bring to Tone in Part IV?

10. Who does Adan rob and beat many years later from his own childhood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why is the issue of Lala's name - and which characters in the novel call her by which name - so symbolically important? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What does Sergeant Beckles's behavior indicate about the power and status of men in positions of authority in Barbados? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

What does Lala's wedding ring, and the manner in which Adan procures it, symbolize about their entire marriage and relationship? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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