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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 narrator and her friends do at their house parties?

2. Who is Daouda Dieng?

3. When did the narrator realize that Modou was the man for her for life?

4. What is the narrator's state of mind at the opening of the book?

5. What does the narrator think of Aissatou's in-laws?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator rush to the hospital and what does she find?

2. What is the first of Modou's secrets that is revealed?

3. How do the narrator and her friends make their lives better?

4. What is happening politically in these three chapters?

5. What is the irony in the marriage offer from Dauoda?

6. How does the narrator feel about the problems with Aissatou?

7. What is a possible reason the narrator's first name is revealed in chapter 19?

8. How does Aissatou respond to Mawdo accepting a second wife from his mother?

9. How does the narrator react to Modou's death?

10. What is the response that many of those around Ramatoulaye have to the offer of marriage by Daouda and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Unlike many Senegalese women, the narrator is a working mother, even before her husband left her. Much research has been done on the effect of a two-parent working family on children. What does the research seem to suggest? What are some possible ways to solve the problem of the need for both parents to work outside of the home in the United States? More and more men are becoming stay-at-home fathers while their wives are the primary breadwinners. After researching the dynamics of male/female power structure in Senegal today, do you think this phenomenon is taking place there also? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Ramatoulaye, the narrator is dealing with the grief of the death of her husband, whom she still loves, though he abandoned her. Grief is an integral aspect of every culture, though different cultures have different ways of dealing with grief. Choose three cultures from three different continents around the world and research the concept of grief in each one. Explain how each culture has traditions in place to deal with grief. Compare and contrast the three cultures and their attitudes about grief and the ways their people deal with grief.

Essay Topic 3

Women have little economic or political power in Senegal at the time this book is set in the 1950-1960s. Research how if at all, Senegal has changed since the time of the setting of this book in terms of the equality between men and women. Would you want to live in a culture as that of Senegal of that time? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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