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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 color is Nelson Denoon's hair?

2. What does the narrator use to keep predators away at night in the desert?

3. Where does the narrator go the day after the party to find Nelson Denoon?

4. What does "Z" do for a living?

5. What month is the narrator traveling to Tsau?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author depict the relationship between Grace and Nelson Denoon? How does the reader know this?

2. Who is Martin Wade and what relationship does the narrator share with him?

3. What secret does the narrator learn from "Z"?

4. What happens between the narrator and Nelson Denoon when she first finds the place he is staying?

5. What does the reader learn about the narrator in Chapter 1? What characteristics does she display?

6. Why does the narrator have such difficulty finding the place where Nelson Denoon is rumored to be staying?

7. What happens when the narrator is summoned before the Mother Committee? What must she do to stay in Tsau?

8. What does Nelson Denoon believe is "Solar Democracy"?

9. How does the narrator prepare to leave for Tsau? How does she plan to travel? What risks is she taking?

10. The narrator begins to have very strange experiences in the desert. What are they, and how does she overcome it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the story the narrator does things or feels things that she does not feel positively about. How does the author describe these situations? Choose two examples from the book and explain how and why the author describes those feelings in the narrator.

Essay Topic 2

The relationship between blacks and whites in Africa has changed throughout history. Research the history of the Botswana area and create a time line of facts, changes, and political movements. Explain how the history of the area is important to the racial climate in the story, the characters' actions, and how it impacts the relationships in the story.

Essay Topic 3

The narrator does not understand Nelson's calm nature when he is accused of and jailed for Hector's murder. However, he does remain extremely calm, saying he is content to let the village he created deal with him. Explain the dynamic that is occurring in this situation between Nelson and the villagers and Nelson and the narrator.

(see the answer keys)

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