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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. Why do others disapprove of Aissatou's marriage?

2. Who is Aunty Nabou?

3. What does Daba produce when Lady Mother-in-Law wants the monthly salary continued?

4. Why does the narrator believe it is useless to try to revive the person in question 5?

5. How many children does the woman bear the deceased?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

3. What does Ramatoulaye tease her friend, Aissatou, about, but what evidence is there that she accepts her friend?

4. How does the family feel about Ibrahima?

5. Why is Farmata disappointed in how Ramatoulaye handles Aissatou's pregnancy?

6. What is happening politically in these three chapters?

7. How does Daouda ask for Ramatoulaye's hand in marriage and what is her response?

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

9. What does Modou do upon returning from France?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Ramatoulaye's best friend moves to the United States after her husband married a second wife. Over the past several hundred years, many emigrants have moved to the United States seeking relief from oppressive governments or oppressive cultural mores. Discuss some of the things that would drive you to leave your home country to move to a new country and different culture. If there is nothing that would make you leave your home country, discuss what about your country makes you want to live there for your entire life.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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