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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Julius ask for help after being beaten and robbed?
(a) Nadège.
(b) His friend.
(c) V.
(d) Mary.

2. How does Julius characterize his grandfather’s status in Nigeria?
(a) Power broker.
(b) Local official.
(c) Inconsequential laborer.
(d) Respected craftsman.

3. What part of academia does Julius say he has never had a stomach for?
(a) The competition.
(b) The research.
(c) The needy students.
(d) The bureaucracy.

4. How does Julius’ friend respond to the fact that the “tree of heaven” is an invasive species (179)?
(a) He is angry at the person who introduced it.
(b) He is concerned about ways to eradicate it.
(c) He extolls the virtues of the tree.
(d) He says, "Aren’t we all?"

5. What does the clerk at the post office share with Julius in Chapter 16?
(a) Insights about the news.
(b) Words of wisdom from Africa.
(c) Some of his tea.
(d) Some of his poetry.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Julius say he has a hard time believing about people who lived before the twenty-first century?

2. How many times does Julius try his PIN in various cash machines before he gives up in Chapter 13?

3. On one hand, Julius says that his memory of Nigeria is mostly a blank forgetting—how does he describe the things that do stick with him from that time?

4. Where does Julius find out most Africans in Brussels actually come from?

5. What does Julius say the boys who beat him up and robbed him were intent on doing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Chapter 11 marks the end of “Part 1: Death is a perfection of the eye.” In what way is this title appropriate to the first 11 chapters?

2. How does Julius characterize his trip to the tailor to get clothing for his father’s funeral?

3. How is Julius affected by V.’s death?

4. What is Julius’ state of mind while he is reading the newspaper to Dr. Saito?

5. How does Julius respond when his friend’s girlfriend Lise-Anne asks him about the most humorous cases he had seen among the mentally ill?

6. How does Julius explain his views about psychiatry to his friend?

7. What does Julius say his relationship with winter is like?

8. What happens to Julius when he forgets to bring his checkbook to the accountant, and why is it disturbing?

9. What is Julius’ relationship like with the character he never names, but simply calls “my friend” (179)?

10. What is it that Julius says cut him to the quick when he was talking with Dr. Maillotte over dinner?

(see the answer keys)

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