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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. What did Esther always smoke when she did housework?

2. How long had Sinclair's father been gone to Japan when she and her siblings went to visit their grandmother Pauline?

3. According to Rasta folklore, how many white doves burst from the clouds as Haile Selassie's plane appeared?

4. How did the puppies Regan and Thatcher die?

5. How many children did Esther have in the four years they lived at White House?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did Sinclair's family live until she was five?

2. What did it mean that Howard wanted Sinclair to be the perfect daughter?

3. How did Sinclair learn that a girl named Monique did not want to be her friend?

4. What was next door to the village where Sinclair and her family lived?

5. How did Howie make money to support his family?

6. Why did the children's hair start falling out in Chapter 6, and how was the condition cured?

7. When did Howie go to the United States, and what did he do there?

8. What was S.P.I.C.?

9. Why were a hundred thousand "Rasta bredern" at the airport in Chapter 1?

10. Why did Howard not want his children to visit their grandmother Pauline?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Howard and most Rastafari men believed women had specific roles to play in society and at home. What roles did the Rastafarians believe women should play and what was conveyed about gender roles in Rastafari culture?

Essay Topic 2

Mood is an element that evokes feelings in readers through the use of descriptive language. Mood is the overall feeling that readers have when reading a narrative. What is the overall mood of How to Say Babylon?

Essay Topic 3

After attending her grandmother’s church, Sinclair had doubts about her upbringing. Why did Sinclair begin to doubt what she was taught after attending her grandmother’s church?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 946 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample