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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. Where does Immaculee volunteer in Kigali while she is working there at the UN?

2. What is the name of the woman who had been hiding Malaba before she arrives at the pastor's house?

3. About which of her family members does Immaculee ask Pastor Murinzi at the end of "A Gathering of Orphans"?

4. What does Immaculee's family friend Kayitare bring to the burial of her relatives?

5. How far does Immaculee and her two friends walk with the Interahamwe killers circling them?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the state of the city of Kigali when Immaculee and her friends arrive there after the war?

2. Why does Immaculee attempt to teach herself English while hiding in the bathroom?

3. What does Immaculee find those in her town lacking that she had maintained when she visits home to put her mother's and brother's bodies to rest?

4. How does Immaculee finally manage to get a job working for the United Nations?

5. What does Immaculee hope her words can do for survivors of holocausts and for those subject to violence everywhere?

6. What does Immaculee see after her dream, as related in "Keeping the Faith," and what does she take it to mean?

7. How do the children of the pastor react to learning of the women who had been hiding in the pastor's bathroom?

8. How does Damascene face his death?

9. What does the French captain offer to Immaculee, and why does she reject it?

10. Into what situation are the Tutsi survivors placed by the French on the road to the RPF troops?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the story of Left to Tell, and sometimes amid the very worst of the horrors, Immaculee recounts instances of great generosity and charity. Discuss the significance of such benevolence in the midst of tragedy in a well-developed analytical essay. Why are some people still so generous? What does this indicate about such people? How does generosity breed more generosity? How is charity similar? How does charity affect those who are its recipients? How does it affect society as a whole? What roles do generosity and charity play in both the events during the holocaust and immediately following it?

Essay Topic 2

While in the bathroom, surrounded by war, violence, and the death of loved ones, as well as a total evaporation of personal freedom, Immaculee finds a means to transcend the horror. Examine the concept of transcendence and the particular way in which Immaculee finds it, in a well-planned analytical essay. What is the nature of violence, war, and all such horrible things? In what sorts of experiences does one encounter these horrible things? Contrariwise, what does it mean to transcend? How does one transcend the horrible? In what sort of experiences does one encounter the transcendent? How does Immaculee find the transcendent? From what does it free her?

Essay Topic 3

Humble, pious, loving--what other words could be used to describe Immaculee Ilibagiza? Drawing upon instances from the text, as well as the message she promotes within it, analyze the moral character and personality of Immaculee. What are her strengths as a person? What particular actions show her strengths? How does she develop these strengths during her experiences in the Rwandan holocaust? In what ways is she weak, and how is that shown in the text? What are her principal character traits? What struggles has she faced in her life? How has she overcome these struggles? How does the message she promotes in Left to Tell corroborate her life experiences? What is demonstrated about her character through the relationships she built with other people?

(see the answer keys)

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