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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. When did everything change in the Congo, according to Orleanna?

2. How much money does the family receive as a stipend each month?

3. What does Orleanna now look for in her daughters?

4. What was the hardest work for Orleanna in the Congo?

5. Which Price daughter is the youngest?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mama Tataba quit working for the Prices? Do you agree with her decision?

2. 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?

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

4. How is Adah different than the rest of her family?

5. Who is Anatole? Why is Nathan angry with Anatole?

6. Why do the Underdowns come to Kilanga? How does Nathan respond?

7. 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?

8. How does the relationship between the Price girls and the village children change in Book 2?

9. What is Leah's relationship with her father like in Book 1?

10. What is the Verse? Why do the girls get the Verse? Who is really to blame?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A number of symbols are used within the novel. Choose one symbol and answer the following?

1) What is the symbol and what does it represent?

2) How does Kingsolver use the symbol in the novel?

3) Trace the symbol through the novel and note when it appears.

Essay Topic 2

Nathan Price is the only character from the Price family that does not narrate in the novel. Why do you think he does not have a voice in the novel? What effect does this have on the reader's perception of him and the events of the novel? What does Nathan represent or symbolize in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the character of Anatole and what he represents. What is Anatole's background and what does he become? What does he symbolize at a national level? Why is someone like Anatole often viewed as dangerous?

(see the answer keys)

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