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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 is the final destination of the airplane on which Sissie travels?

2. Who is the Minister of Education?

3. At what time does Marija come to pick up Sissie for the first time?

4. Who orders breakfast for Sissie's group?

5. What purpose does the castle now serve?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Sissie volunteer in Bavaria?

2. What do Sissie and her fellow campers do for work?

3. What fruit had Sissie never seen before coming to Germany?

4. Where does Sissie recall meeting an Indian man?

5. What function does the castle in Bavaria now serve?

6. How does the woman in the train station in Frankfurt refer to her Sissie when speaking to her daughter?

7. What is the most dangerous type of black person, according to Part 1: "Into a Bad Dream?"

8. What does the narrator claim that power decides?

9. Where does Marija think Ghana is located?

10. In what language does Sissie explain that the angels take roll-call?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you address the role of names in the novel. In your essay, consider what are the major and secondary characters' names, what other names are presented, how characters relate to other people's names, and how names are related to identity.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you evaluate the poetic interludes in the novel. What purpose do the poems serve? What is the effect on the reader when the poems break up the text? In your essay, you may conduct a close reading on any number of these poems as examples, and consider whether there are any common themes among these several poems, as well as what effect(s) they have on the reader.

Essay Topic 3

The economics of education are presented at several points during the novel. Write an essay in which you analyze how education is related to economics as presented in the novel. In your essay, you might consider what kind of volunteer work and studies students undertake abroad. You can also consider whether the connection between education and economics is portrayed in a positive, negative, fashion (or a mix of both). Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

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