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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 tell July in Section 10 about the bakke he so desires?

2. What does Martha reveal Daniel has been telling her?

3. What does the man accuse the children of in Section 6?

4. In Section 8, what does Victor want his dad to buy?

5. Why is Bam suddenly rendered incapable of action in Section 10?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is missing when the Smalls arrive back at the hut in Section 9, and what does this likely mean for the family?

2. Explain why the chief wants to learn to use a gun.

3. Describe what Bam’s feeding of the children shows, in terms of his role in the household, compared to his previous life?

4. Describe Maureen’s point about the smell of her family.

5. What does Bam try to explain about why the chief shouldn’t kill his own people?

6. Explain how July sees his chief.

7. What does it imply that the chief can speak in English, but doesn’t at first?

8. Describe the birth of animals in the Smalls’ hut, and how that relates to the accusation of theft.

9. Explain why Maureen thinks they need to leave in Section 9.

10. Describe the shared moment of mockery between Martha and Maureen.

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 gun is a symbolic object in the novel. What does it symbolize to Bam and Maureen? To the villagers? To July? To Daniel? To the chief? In the end what happens to it, and how does this affect Bam? How does it affect Maureen?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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