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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 does Methuselah do that makes Nathan angry?

2. What are sandals made of in Kilanga?

3. What do the girls do in the mornings?

4. Where did Orleanna think she was when she woke sometimes?

5. What does Rachel tolerate in Africa that she would not have at home?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Price house like? How is it different than other houses in the village?

2. What does Book 2 tell us about Nathan and his relationship to the family?

3. In Book 1, Rachel feels like the family is "in for it" in the Congo. Why do you think that Rachel feels this way?

4. Who is Mama Tataba? What does she try to help Nathan with? What does he do with her advice?

5. What happens to Ruth May in Book 2 as she is spying on the Jimmy Crow boys? What does she discover in the events that take place?

6. What happens when the family first arrives in the Congo?

7. Where do Nathan and Leah go in Book 2? What do they see?

8. How did Orleanna meet Nathan? How did their relationship change?

9. Orleanna says that her journey in Africa came to a bad end in Book 1. What do you think will happen that will make Orleanna's journey end badly?

10. What does the family bring with them to the Congo? What troubles did they have in getting these things to the Congo? How did they solve the problem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the importance of names in the novel? How are names important for people in the novel? What is the importance of naming something wrong in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the religions, cultures, and other differences between the Congo and the United States. Which characters in the novel seem to bridge these differences? Which ones do not?

Essay Topic 3

Kingsolver brings the United States into the novel in several different ways. What role did the United States play in the Congo at a national and village level? What does Kingsolver seem to think about the United States' role in the events in the Congo? Do you think the United States should have been involved in the Congo?

(see the answer keys)

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