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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 kind of shoes is Lakune wearing with his suit?

2. When the play opens, who has Sidi promised to marry?

3. What is the formal title of the village leader?

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

5. Who is Sidi?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe the setting in which the play opens.

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

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

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

8. What does Lakunle think of Baroka?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you make a claim about what The Lion and the Jewel is saying about loyalty and betrayal. Which characters are loyal, and what are they loyal to? In what ways do the characters betray others and themselves? Use textual support to provide evidence for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Write an essay in which you analyze the scene in The Lion and the Jewel in which Lakunle tells the story of how the railroad was diverted from the village. What happens in this scene, what symbolic elements does it have, and how does it function in the larger work? Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 940 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample