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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. Who is the first man the Smalls meet on their way to the chief?

2. In Section 6, what does Victor note some Africans are, unlike July?

3. What does Maureen assume the chief wants?

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

5. Why does Maureen suddenly bring up the stolen items in Section 10?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is July’s feeling about Maureen working in the fields, and why?

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

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

4. Where has Daniel gone in Section 10, and what does this mean for Maureen and her family?

5. Explain the function of the black man the Smalls meet before the chief.

6. What does Martha wonder most about the white woman, when she lived in town with July?

7. Explain Maureen’s feelings about her life, prior to the riots, as reflected upon in Section 9.

8. What does Bam mean when he says July is “shrewdy”?

9. Describe the gumba-gumba, and the resulting party atmosphere.

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

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 children in the novel regress throughout the book, and by the end, they are having difficulty even reading. Describe at least three moments in the book where one of the children “loses” their privileged behaviors and instead substitutes behaviors they are learning from the village children. What does this indicate about their ability to adapt, as opposed to their parents’ ability?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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This section contains 934 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample