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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who cuts the first swath of rice from the field on the day of the harvest?
(a) The eldest son of each family.
(b) The head of each family.
(c) The mother of each family.
(d) The praise-singer.

2. What does Camara's grandmother do with him when she takes him around her village?
(a) She holds him the whole time.
(b) She makes him talk to everybody.
(c) She makes him sing.
(d) She shows him off.

3. What is an example of a preparatory ritual for gold work undertaken by Camara's father?
(a) Washing himself all over.
(b) Not eating for several days.
(c) Eating a lot.
(d) Not washing himself for several days.

4. What announces that the harvest has begun?
(a) The tom-tom.
(b) The sound of a flute.
(c) The tam-tam.
(d) The sound of a harp.

5. When does the school teacher punish the students physically?
(a) When the students' handwriting is not exact.
(b) When the students are late.
(c) When the students interrupt.
(d) When the students don't listen.

Short Answer Questions

1. Camara tells who about what has been happening at school?

2. After the animal encounter in the forge, what does Camara like to yell to his mother?

3. How does Camara feel the night after he hears the story about the special snake?

4. Why does Camara's father send his children to school?

5. Where are Camara's parents' huts located?

Short Essay Questions

1. Camara's mother has special powers. How is that manifested in chapter 5? What is her association to a horse?

2. Describe the behavior of Camara's school teacher in the French school he attended as a child.

3. What do the reapers do while they work on the fields, and how is their relationship?

4. One day, Camara finds a little black snake with a strikingly marked body. What is special about this snake?

5. Describe the initial relationship between Camara and Fanta?

6. After the snake encounter, Camara finds it amusing to yell to his mother, "There's a snake!" How does his mother react when he yells like this?

7. A few months after all the beatings at school, the director of the French school is forced to resign because of a petition signed by all the parents. What did Camara's father have to do with this?

8. Why does Camara's father tell Camara the story about the special snake? What else does he suggest to Camara about the snake?

9. How did Camara's father know about this specific task of gold work, and how did he prepare himself to execute the work?

10. Camara Laye's earliest memories revolve around his father's forge. What is the forge? What happens there? What does Camara do there?

(see the answer keys)

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