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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What schools in the American South were Alliance modeled first after?
(a) Tulane and Hampton.
(b) Tuskegee and Hampton.
(c) Yale and Harvard.
(d) Tuskegee and Harvard.

2. From whom did Ngũgĩ receive a long letter regarding whether one needed a license to write?
(a) His brother.
(b) His mother.
(c) Kenneth Mbgũa.
(d) Kenneth Wanjai.

3. What metaphor does Ngũgĩ use to describe the racial conflict in Kenya?
(a) White Snow v. Black Ice.
(b) White colonists v. Black villager.
(c) White monolith v. Black monolith.
(d) White lion v. Black panther.

4. What was the name of the newspaper students read aloud each week in the Alliance Dining Hall?
(a) Kenya Weekly.
(b) The Saturday Evening Post.
(c) The Weekly Update.
(d) The Saturday Evening Paper.

5. What passage does Edward Carey Francis read in the midst of a downpour during a morning parade?
(a) Pilgrim’s Progress.
(b) Pilgrim’s Sacrifice.
(c) In the House of the Interpreter.
(d) Three Men in a Boat.

6. What book does math teacher Peter Abrahams hold which intrigues Ngũgĩ?
(a) Go Tell it on the Mountain.
(b) Freedom Fighters.
(c) The Bible.
(d) Tell Freedom.

7. In what annual performance did Ngũgĩ land the role of foot soldier?
(a) King Lear.
(b) Henry VII.
(c) Henry IV, Part IX.
(d) Henry IV, Part I.

8. What purchase restores Ngũgĩ’s pride in Kikuyi?
(a) Candy.
(b) Lunch.
(c) New clothes.
(d) A book.

9. When did Ngũgĩ begin school at Alliance?
(a) April, 1950.
(b) January, 1955.
(c) December, 1959.
(d) October, 1952.

10. With whom did Ngũgĩ travel by train to Limuru?
(a) His mother.
(b) Kenneth Wanjai.
(c) His brother.
(d) His father.

11. What did Ngũgĩ discover when he arrived at his home in the beginning of the memoir?
(a) It is nothing but rubble.
(b) His brother has returned.
(c) His sister had a baby
(d) His mother has made him a special dinner. .

12. What is the name of the man who tells Ngũgĩ where to find his family in Chapter 1?
(a) Mwangi.
(b) Kenneth.
(c) Charity.
(d) Good Wallace.

13. What university’s opening lead to secondary schools becoming more focused on college prep?
(a) Oxford.
(b) Kenya University.
(c) Cambridge.
(d) Makere.

14. When Ngũgĩ returned from break in August, who did he find out had been detained?
(a) His sister.
(b) His father.
(c) His brother.
(d) His mother.

15. From where did Ngũgĩ return home in April 1955?
(a) Alliance High School.
(b) Alliance University.
(c) Limuru.
(d) Makerere University.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Ngũgĩ’s friend let go and Ngũgĩ was made to stay captive in Chapter 24?

2. What book did the landscape from the scouting event in Chapter 35 inspire?

3. In regards to the play, what did Ngũgĩ say the “political theater onstage was mimicking” (96)?

4. What word does Ngũgĩ use to describe the force that would try to tell him to slow down during a race?

5. What did Ngũgĩ think might help quiet his spiritual doubts?

(see the answer keys)

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