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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 does Jacob invent?

2. What happens after Sylvia dies?

3. Who does Joseph meet at UNZA?

4. Who is Joseph?

5. Who is living in one of Lee's houses in Lusaka?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Thandi discover living in one of Lee's houses?

2. Why does Thandi's husband go to a hair salon almost every day while they are married?

3. Who helps Naila and the boys carry out a secret mission?

4. Who falls out of a tree at the end of the chapter "Thandiwe"?

5. What happens to Naila according to the mosquitoes?

6. What does Naila do in the dam?

7. What does Agnes ask Joseph to help her find?

8. Who teaches Jacob to read?

9. What does the General want from Jacob?

10. Where do Jacob, Naila, and Joseph spend most of their nights together?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you examine the structure of the novel. What is the effect of writing this particular story this way? What does the presence of a third-person, omniscient narrator and chapter endings narrated by a swarm of mosquitoes do to propel the narrative forward, or emphasize important themes? Use evidence from the text to explain your thoughts.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you examine the significance of hair in the novel. Why is hair important for several characters, and across several generations? What function does hair serve in the novel, narratively and figuratively? Use evidence from the text to explain your thoughts.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you examine the concept of land/land ownership in the novel, particularly as it pertains to settler colonialism in Africa throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In what ways does this issue present itself in the novel, and how does the novel's characters interact with or interrogate this concept? Use evidence from the text to explain your thoughts.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 565 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample