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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 does Jubril die?

2. During one vacation, Selam asks the narrator ___________________________.

3. Jubril was baptized into which religion?

4. The soldier wants to be a farmer or a ____________________.

5. Jubril buys a ticket on which bus line to take him out of the city to his father's village?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Akpan choose second person narration for the story?

2. How does Akpan's choice of second person narration affect the reader?

3. Why are the passengers on the bus infused with a sense of urgency?

4. Who is Jubril and why must he disguise his religious identity aboard a bus headed out of the city?i

5. What is the core source of all the violence that takes place in the story?

6. What is the unifying thread of the conflicts in the story?

7. What ban by the Nigerian government takes place just prior to the opening of the story, "Luxurious Hearses"?

8. What does the Chief signify in the story?

9. What is notable about the story "What Language is That?"

10. What is at the base of all the trivial conflicts in the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Loss seems to be almost an unnamed character in the book. How pervasive is the sense of loss? Why does it have such a prevalent place in the characters' lives? Explain how an inanimate object or characteristic can be a character.

Essay Topic 2

Create a character study of Jubril in "Luxurious Hearses (Nigeria)". What are his physical characteristics? What are his motivations? What are his fears? What are his dreams? What else can you say about Jubril?

Essay Topic 3

Create a character study of the narrator in "What Language is That? (Ethiopia)". What are her physical characteristics? What are her motivations? What are her fears? What are her dreams? What else can you say about the little narrator?

(see the answer keys)

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