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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. Where does the photograph of Maureen and Lydia end up later in Life?

2. What does July bring for Bam in Section 1?

3. Who does Bam meet that would like to use the gun?

4. What does July say he plans to tell people when they ask about the bakke?

5. What does Maureen notice about the value of money to the villagers?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is July’s plan to tell people, when they question his driving of the bakke, and why does Bam object?

4. 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?

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

6. Describe what Bam and July are able to make for the village.

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The car becomes a social status in the book rather quickly. Explain this social status. Where did it come from? What did it mean in their old life to the Small family? What did it represent in their escape? What does it represent to July? What does July’s use of it now represent to Maureen? To Bam? To the villagers?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Ellen and Martha. How are they similar and how are they different? What do they each mean, or represent, to July, and how does this show his convoluted situation? What does this say about July as a person? About Ellen? About Martha?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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