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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. How many wives does Yae's cousin Wasi have?

2. Who is waiting at the new homesite when the Richardsons arrive?

3. What do the Sawi warriors do when they meet Don Richardson and John McCain for the first time?

4. What does eating flesh for the first time mean to Sawi children?

5. What is the word that Sawi greet one another with?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the Richardsons find surprising and difficult about the Sawi people?

2. What is Ebenezer Vine trying to accomplish with his lecture tour?

3. The Sawi people have a saying "the spirits have accepted our skin-grease in their rivers." What does this mean?

4. Why does Yae throw water from the river into the air in order to drink it?

5. For his journey to Haenam, Yae dresses in a very careful way. What are some of the underlying meanings which his clothing convey?

6. What was the moment in which Yae realizes that he has been tricked?

7. Who are the people that the author is going to work with?

8. Why do the Sawi people see Kani and Mahean as the epitome of manhood?

9. Why does Wario, Mahaen's mother-in-law, agree to be part of Kani's terrible revenge plot?

10. What is Yae trying to do as he makes a journey to the nearby village of Haenam?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The shift of government from the remote Dutch authorities to the more present Indonesian authorities brings tremendous change to the Sawi people. What does Richardson say about that change? How and why is that change so dramatic?

Essay Topic 2

The world of the Sawi people is very complex and based upon survival needs and a strong structure of family and tribal identity. Write an essay describing some aspect of the complexity that underlies what might seem like a simple hunter/gatherer society. For instance, Richardson finds that the language itself is very sophisticated and nuanced. The system of protection that family ties offer, for instance mother-in-law bonds, is both unique and imaginative. There is symbolism in the clothing, jewelry, and other items that the tribespeople own. Chose some aspect of the Sawi culture and show how there is an underlying sophistication to what might seem "primitive."

Essay Topic 3

Why have the Sawi people been so protected from the modern world and its technological advances? Write an essay which explores both the physical reasons (geography), lifestyle, and world view of the Sawi culture which has kept it at such a remote distance.

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