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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 do the Vai women prepare for the visitors to eat in Part II?

2. Who is the Missus's daughter at the Emerson Plantation?

3. What plagues Callum when he arrives in Jamaica?

4. Where is Gbessa taken for her exile?

5. What gift does Nanni exhibit?

Short Essay Questions

1. How and when does June Dey's superhuman strength become apparent?

2. Who takes Norman in after Nanni's death, and how do these people treat him?

3. What is Gbessa's fate once she reaches a certain age of adolescence?

4. What happens to Charlotte at Emerson's plantation that she thinks accounts for other slaves shunning her?

5. What is Darlene's big secret?

6. Why does Callum shoot at both Nanni and Norman?

7. What is unusual about Charlotte's and Dey's relationship?

8. Why is Mistress Emerson so fixated on the skin color of June Dey?

9. What refrain does Gbessa say repeatedly to herself?

10. Why are Khati and Gbessa treated as outcasts in Lai?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Gbessa's relationship with her mother Khati like? How does Khati try to help Gbessa, and how does Khati cope with the reality of the tragic turn her life takes after, and as a result of, Gbessa's birth? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

At the very end of the novel, Gbessa, Norman, and June Dey are all reunited to fight for the future of Liberia on the beach, and they are outnumbered against the French. Even so, Gbessa is confident of her "resurrection." Write an essay explaining the significance of this battle and of the reuniting of the three protagonists at this moment in the plot.

Essay Topic 3

How do both Norman and June Dey feel after months of fighting together and of helping the tribes in Africa retain and regain their freedom from white men? Why does Norman eventually decide to end their collaboration and strike out on his own? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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