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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 keeps Mawdo busy as a physician?

2. To whom do the wives give money?

3. How many children did the second wife bear the deceased?

4. Who is Aunty Nabou?

5. Who is Daouda Dieng?

Short Essay Questions

1. What decision is made about Aissatou's pregnancy and how does Ramatoulaye feel about the decision?

2. What are the circumstances leading up to Modou marrying Binetou?

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

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

5. What is happening politically in these three chapters?

6. Why do you think the narrator still puts up with her in-laws who irritate her and who continue to visit despite the fact that Modou is no longer living with the narrator?

7. How might Aissatou's situation be a bigger problem in Senegal than for a woman with the same situation in the United States. What are the similarities?

8. Why is Mawdo's life as a physician successful and what are the implications of this?

9. Why does Modou go to France?

10. Compare and contrast the second marriages of Mawdo and Modou.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ramatoulaye writes of Daouda Dieng, the man her mother wanted her to marry, that he was a feminist. What does a man being a feminist mean? Give clear examples and details to support your thesis.

Is there any need in the world today for the concept of feminism? Why or why not--give examples and details to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

Polygamy is against the law in the United States, but many other countries, including Senegal, allow men to have multiple wives but not wives having multiple husbands. What does it say about a culture that allows men to have several wives, but not the reverse and how do you think women are viewed in these countries? Should polygamy be controlled by law and what are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing polygamy?

Discuss the way you think a household with multiple wives would work, i.e., would one wife be in charge of the others and what about the children?

Essay Topic 3

Morality is another concept that seems to be taught and thought about less often now than in the time of So Long A Letter. How has morality changed in the United States since the 1950's? What is considered acceptable now that was considered immoral then? What is still considered immoral now as then? Should morality change? Is the differences between what was considered moral behavior then versus now that significant? Has the United States been negatively impacted by the changing moral climate of the country? Has it been positively impacted? Such areas to consider might be marriage vs. living together; gay relationships; cheating or stealing; parent-child relationships.

(see the answer keys)

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