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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 drives the car with the family in Section 7?

2. What is Bam sure will happen with the chief?

3. What is July trying to fix on the car in Section 7?

4. What does Bam realize about his feelings for his wife in Section 7?

5. What does the chief want Bam to do to help him?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Section 9, what does Martha dream for the future, and how does this differ from July’s dreams?

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

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

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

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

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

7. What does the author mean when she says Victor is angry “with a white man’s anger, too big for him”?

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

9. Explain how Maureen feels about her husband after living in the village for a time.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

July plays up his power role in his home community, telling the Smalls he is listened to in his village and that he is powerful. However, Maureen accuses him of attempting to use them, and their belongings, to further his power. Why would July need the Smalls, or their things, to improve standing in his community, and what does this imply about July as a person?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Apartheid is another primary topic in the novel, as the blacks were continuously kept down by the white minority in power. Bam and Maureen claimed to fight against this concept. Do you think they really did? Why or why not? How do their actions in the novel show they enjoyed their privileged state more than they openly admitted? How did July feel about this?

(see the answer keys)

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