View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Bam’s reasoning for not owning a pistol?

2. What does Maureen realize she doesn’t have to worry about anymore in Section 9?

3. What does Bam say about July in Section 8?

4. What are the chief’s final words to the Smalls in Section 8?

5. What do even the children know about the secret of the gun?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why Maureen drowns the kittens and what this implies about her?

2. Why is Martha resentful toward Maureen when she asks where July has gone in Section 10?

3. Why do you think Maureen runs for the helicopter at the end of the novel, leaving her family behind?

4. Why does Maureen give a final belittling speech to July, and what does she say?

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

6. Explain how Bam now feels about his wife by Section 7.

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

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

9. What is July’s mother’s primary objection to the white people?

10. Explain how July sees his chief.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The photograph of Maureen and Lydia is a focal point for Maureen in the novel. Explain what that photograph would mean in apartheid South Africa. Why was this so important for Maureen as an adult? What did the photograph imply, to her, as she noted her ignorance? Do you think she has changed? How?

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

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)

This section contains 1,034 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample