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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What surprises July’s wife about Maureen upon first meeting her?
(a) She’s not attractive.
(b) She’s not rich.
(c) She’s not kind.
(d) She’s not a good mother.

2. When were July’s children conceived?
(a) During holidays.
(b) When his wife was in town.
(c) It is unknown.
(d) On his leave.

3. What object does Bam not keep in his home?
(a) Servants.
(b) A revolver.
(c) Slaves.
(d) A knife.

4. What is understood by July's girlfriend in the city to be July’s responsibilities?
(a) His children in town.
(b) His children in various places.
(c) His employer.
(d) His children at home.

5. What is happening politically, economically, and socially in the novel?
(a) Blacks are being sold as slaves.
(b) Apartheid is being challenged.
(c) Democracy is being challenged.
(d) Whites are being sold as slaves.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who helps the Smalls escape their home at the beginning of the novel?

2. What does July’s son realize in Section 2, that the others do not?

3. How much time has passed since Maureen and Bam left Johannesburg?

4. What does July’s mother eventually do as she carries wood in Section 5?

5. What have the boys learned to do instead of us toilet paper?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the photograph of young Maureen and her housekeeper Lydia, and why it is important.

2. In Section 2, what does July try to explain to his family about the Smalls?

3. What does Martha mean in Section 2 when she says she was surprised at the way Maureen looked?

4. What does July learn to do in Section 4, and who teaches him?

5. What happened to the blacks under the Small’s employ, including July?

6. What does Maureen mean when she thinks that the balance between love and duty is maintained differently based on the lovers’ place in the economy?

7. Describe the situation with the vehicle in Section 3.

8. Why do you think July is so insistent that the Smalls continue to allow him and his family to work for them?

9. Describe the bakke, and its use in the Smalls family, both previously and currently.

10. Explain what Maureen discovers as she notices various gadgets being used around the village.

(see the answer keys)

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