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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 is the traditional contribution for funeral expenses from others?

2. What does Modou think of the policies of the dominant party?

3. What is the goal of the narrator's education?

4. How might one describe the culture of the Senegal people?

5. What is one secret revealed about the deceased?

Short Essay Questions

1. What decision does Ramatoulaye make about her three daughters (the "trio") in light of Aissatou's out-of-wedlock pregnancy?

2. What are some things Daouda does when he visits the narrator that implies his future offer of marriage?

3. What is happening to the narrator's daughter, Aissitou, who is named for the narrator's best friend in the United States.

4. What does the narrator persist in thinking about Modou's abandonment and what does Aissatou say about it?

5. What happens to the relationship between Modou and his first wife, the narrator? Do you think it is Binetou's fault for how Modou handles his two marriages?

6. Describe the wake scene for Modou.

7. What are the narrator's concerns for some of her children?

8. What did Lady Mother-in-Law bring up at the mirasse and with what result?

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

10. What is one thing that school does for the narrator?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Forgiveness. Many people think of forgiveness as an individual act of one person forgiving someone else, as in the story when Ramatoulaye forgives first her husband for deserting her and then her daughter, Aissatou for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. This is one type of forgiveness, but let's look at forgiveness on a grander scale. Research and write an essay on how Germany was treated at the end of WWI versus the end of WWII--what were the differences?

How did the harsh treatment of Germany after WWI contribute to WWII happening, if it did--would Germany have become a different country if it had been treated with forgiveness after WWI?

Do you think that the fact that Germany, Italy, and Japan are successful nations today has to do with the forgiveness offered them after WWII--discuss whether nations be forgiven aggression after they are defeated and how much reparations should be exacted.

Essay Topic 2

Marriage has changed dramatically in the United States even in the last fifty years. Research as to how marriage has changed in the United States. Do you think marriage will eventually be a thing of the past? Is marriage important for the stability of a culture? How would the culture of the United States change if there was no such thing as legal marriage? How would this impact the well being of children? Are there advantages to not having the institution of marriage?

Essay Topic 3

Ramatoulaye's message at the end of the book is one of hope. Discuss various things that our world is doing to ensure the continuation of a healthy species and earth and how that is hopeful.

In what ways does our species and planet seem to be on a course of destruction and what needs to be done to feel hopeful about the future?

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