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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. For which of the following teams does Niollo play during his career?

2. Which of the following shoe sizes does Sooley take while on the South Sudanese national youth team?

3. In which of the following classes is Murray when Sooley meets him?

4. Which of the following is a South Sudanese daily newspaper?

5. Which of the following is the number of players invited to try out for the South Sudanese national youth team?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Sooley is invited to try out for the South Sudanese national youth team, how does his village mark the occasion?

2. How does Sooley describe the football team’s morning practices?

3. What is Ecko’s initial assessment of Sooley’s shooting (9)?

4. What reasons are given for the difficulty in placing players in high schools?

5. What is noted as present in the Magic locker room (55)?

6. How does Sooley gloss the situation of South Sudanese refugees (101)?

7. When the South Sudanese national youth team assembles, what overall idea does Ecko impart to the players?

8. What reasons are given for Ecko’s insistence on good behavior by the South Sudanese national youth team?

9. What motivations does Sooley posit Christine has for working in Uganda?

10. By what path does the South Sudanese national youth team travel to the United States?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, Murray’s mother is referred to and addressed as Miss Ida. What significance does the persistence of the title have? How does that significance manifest in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Early on, Ecko muses that “yet another seventeen-year-old was bored with the notion of stretching” (9), and throughout the novel, much is made of the fact that the young players do not spend much time stretching. Explicate the significance of the avoidance of stretching, supporting your ideas from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Explicate the significance of Sooley’s name and nickname. Are the two in tension, or in accord? How so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 660 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample