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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. Before entering the white tree, what do the drinkard and his wife do?

2. After meeting Drums, Song, and Dance, what does the drinkard do for five days?

3. What does "Zurrjir" mean?

4. What are the people like in Wraith-Island?

5. Who gave the drinkard the juju he uses to turn himself into a large bird?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the white monster that the drinkard and his wife encounter in "No Road--Ought to Travel from Bush to Bush to the Dead's Town."

2. Describe the "Spirit of Prey" and how he kills his prey.

3. What lesson can be learned from the little creature on Wraith-Island who was not picked by the King to help clear the corn fields?

4. In the first town that the palm-wine drinkard visits, he meets an old man who gives him two challenges. How does the drinkard complete these tasks and what does this say about his human and non-human abilities?

5. What is symbolic about the magic seeds?

6. Describe Skull and his house.

7. Who is "Faithful-Mother"? What is her responsibility?

8. Describe the "half-bodied baby." Who is he and what is he like?

9. Describe the palm-wine drinkard's relationship with his friends at the beginning of the story.

10. When following and spying on Skull, what does the drinkard turn himself into and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although written in the folktale fashion, The Palm-wine Drinkard is a product of an educated Nigerian man who wrote for an English speaking publisher, during the 20th century. Discuss the balance between African tradition and Western modernization. Use at least three distinct examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

Comment on the grotesque elements in this novel. Give at least three examples of the grotesque and explain their significance within the novel. How would the novel be different without these grotesque elements?

Essay Topic 3

Explain why "death" is an important theme in this novel. Using three examples, demonstrate the different ways in which death is present in the novel and how each of these examples are significant (symbolically, morally, plot-wise, etc.)

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample