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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. In Section 2, what did July’s children see that Bam has in the hut?

2. Why do Bam and Maureen continue to listen to the radio?

3. What is surprising about the photo of Maureen and Lydia?

4. Where does July note that he was during his time away with the bakke?

5. What does July claim in Section 5 that Maureen doesn’t like?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does July say that makes Maureen equally angry in Section 5?

2. What does Maureen realize now about how she treated July, and her assumption that he has taken the keys as one friend takes them from another?

3. What do Maureen and Bam argue about in Section 3?

4. What was the relationship between July’s “town woman” and July? What was the relationship between July's town woman and Maureen?

5. What does Maureen mean when she says “death is a purchase” (pg 65)?

6. Describe the shooting of the warthog, and the resulting meal for the Smalls.

7. What does Victor’s anger at the “stealing” of “their” water show?

8. 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?

9. What is happening in South Africa at the time of the novel?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the character of Maureen at the beginning of the novel, and at the end of the novel. What are similarities? What are differences? How has she changed through the novel, and what caused her to change?

Essay Topic 2

In the book, the chief is willing to kill other blacks in order to save his own lands and power. Describe this concept. Why would the chief be willing to kill “his own people” in the words of the Smalls? What does July explain that shows blacks are not all in collusion with one another? How does the chief see other blacks if they threaten his power? Does the Smalls’ belief that they should band together show support or a lack of understanding? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast July’s life in town with his life in his own village. What does he have in town that he doesn’t have at home? How does this change him? Which life does he prefer? How can you tell? How does his refusal to use African medicine, and his constant comments that the whites don’t need to work show his underlying resentment and humiliation for his life in his village?

(see the answer keys)

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