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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 does Maureen become aware of in Section 2 that she is ignorant of in this village?

2. Why does the old woman become angry with July in Section 2?

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

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

5. What does Maureen note in Section 3 that she doesn’t want to hear a spiel on?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain where the Smalls find themselves in the opening section, and where they came from.

2. Why is July so humiliated that Maureen doesn’t like him having the car keys?

3. How does Maureen get the car keys in Section 4, why, and what is July’s reaction?

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

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

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

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

8. What does the son mean when he says “They can’t do anything. Nothing to us anymore” (pg 21).

9. What does the author mean by “a contempt and humiliation that came from their blood and his” (pg 62)?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Maureen at one point in the novel mentions being afraid of July, not in a physical sense, but in the sense that she realizes her “consideration” for him became “humiliation” to him. What does this mean? How did Maureen’s treatment of him humiliate him now that they are in his world? What does this say about the whole of Maureen’s life previously? Why does this frighten her?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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