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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 does Sidi have Lakunle play the "lost Traveller" in their dance?

2. When Lakunle talks about machines that will someday help women with their work, what is Sidi's reply?

3. What does Lakunle say is true about women's intelligence?

4. Sidi has already changed the way she dresses for Lakunle. What does she say is the consequence of this change?

5. Who is the author of The Lion and the Jewel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the setting in which the play opens.

2. What response does Baroka have to the magazine featuring pictures of the village?

3. When the play opens, what is the understanding between Sidi and Lakunle regarding marriage?

4. What happens with Lakunle when Baroka interrupts the dance?

5. What are the qualities that Lakunle thinks of as "civilized"?

6. What is the "dance of the lost Traveller," and who plays the Traveller?

7. What does Lakunle think of Baroka?

8. How does Sidi feel about Lakunle's modern ideas?

9. What is the contradiction in Lakunle's view of women?

10. How did the "lost Traveller" come to be in the village?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Wole Soyinka won the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature. Read the Swedish Academy's press release upon the occasion of Soyinka's receiving the award (available online) and read Soyinka's banquet speech given December 10, 1986 upon receiving the award (available online). Write an essay in which you consider what characteristics are considered to have made Soyinka an important writer and then compare how his speech and the play The Lion and the Jewel reflect these characteristics. Use textual support from all three sources in support of your claims, and be sure to cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you make a claim about what The Lion and the Jewel is saying about hypocrisy. When do characters say one thing and do another, or violate their own morals? Does this have consequences? Use textual support to provide evidence for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Research the role of music and dance in Western theater. Then write a comparison and contrast essay in which you show how Soyinka's use of music and dance have both commonalities and differences with the tradition of music and dance in Western plays. Be sure to offer textual support for your ideas and cite your sources in MLA format.

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