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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 was the name of the insect spray in the commercial in the first part of the play?

2. What is the name of Zwelinzima's wife in Part 2?

3. What type of picture does Styles aim to provide for Zwelinzima?

4. Why was the owner of the car manufacturer plant unable to give the speech he wanted to give?

5. Who recommended an alternative way to catch the cockroaches to Styles?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why, after Sizwe asks Buntu how long it will "last," does Buntu suddenly says he's tired, bid goodnight to Robert and leave?

2. How does Buntu both protest against and sympathize with Sizwe in Part 3?

3. Expand on the significance of the idea of transformation in this play.

4. Why did Sizwe enjoy his experience drinking at the bar he went to with Buntu?

5. How is Buntu's display in order to convince Sizwe to change identities particularly powerful?

6. What is the passbook a symbol of?

7. Explain the meaning behind Styles yelling out for Robert to imagine that he is against the backdrop of the "city of the future".

8. How is the studio a "place of dreams"?

9. Why doesn't Sizwe want to work in the mines?

10. What all does Sizwe say to Noweto, his wife, in his letter at the end of Part 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore the ways the playwright uses unseen characters such as Sizwe's wife, Noweto, and Zola to suggest aspects of the main characters' lives outside of the action on stage. In your answer, take note of the fact that there are no white characters mentioned in the play, only the general authority they hold over blacks in South Africa.

Essay Topic 2

Buntu and Sizwe Banzi have highly contrasting beliefs about themselves, their place in society as black men and the options available to them. Explore the ways the author uses this contrast as a root for dramatic conflict in the play.

Essay Topic 3

Comment upon the notion that Styles' statement that 'we own nothing but ourselves' could be construed as being ignorant, coming as it does from a successful black businessman in South Africa.

(see the answer keys)

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