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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 happens to Camara when he defies the order to not associate with Kouyate and his sister?

2. One day, some men come and ask Camara's mother to get a certain animal back on its feet. What kind of animal?

3. What does Camara believe about his mother?

4. What did Camara and his apprentice friend talk about?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Camara's father always do the gold work himself, never leaving it to the apprentices or other workers?

2. While he was growing up, what were the rules during meals in Camara's parents' household?

3. What happens in Tindican during the rice season in December?

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

5. One day, a woman comes to Camara's father's shop with gold. She wants the gold made into a trinket. What is special about having a trinket made?

6. Describe the initial relationship between Camara and Fanta?

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

8. What is the result of years of abuse for the school children?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Towards the last chapters of the book, the ocean plays an important role in Camara's life. What does the ocean symbolize? What happens at the ocean? How is love related to this theme? Why is the ocean special and different from what he knows? What does his love of the ocean foreshadow? How is the ocean important in the last chapter? Relate Camara's actions in chapter 12 to his aspirations in chapter 10.

Essay Topic 2

In chapter 9, Camara leaves home for Conakry. This is an important change in his life in relation to his environment, lifestyle and companions. Compare/contrast all these changes to his life before he turned fifteen.

Essay Topic 3

In chapter 3, the author introduces two characters of a different nature that are very closely related. Who are these characters? How do they differ? What do they have in common? What is their importance to Camara? What is their involvement in the community? What are their contrasts/comparisons to the previously mentioned characters?

(see the answer keys)

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