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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. In “The American Embassy,” what is the woman’s frame of mind?

2. In the story of the same title, what does "Tomorrow is Too Far” refer to?

3. In “The Shivering,” where does Ukamaka end up driving Chinedu to, regularly?

4. In “The Headstrong Historian,” why Nwamgba’s family horrified by the prospect or marriage to Obierika?

5. In “The American Embassy,” how did the woman escape from the government men who killed her son?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” what difficulties does Akunna, the you of the story, encounter in dating a white man?

2. In “The Shivering,” how does Chinedu explain away Ukamaka’s objections about his logic regarding God’s will?

3. Who are the main characters of the short story "Tomorrow is Too Far"?

4. In “The Shivering,” what causes Ukamaka’s shivering?

5. In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” how does the woman’s name change when she arrives in America?

6. In “The Headstrong Historian,” how did Afamefuna validate Nwamgba’s values in the end of her life?

7. When and where is "The Headstrong Historian" set?

8. In “The American Embassy,” what is the woman’s relationship with the man behind her in line?

9. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," what had the narrator told her mother to explain how Nonso had died?

10. In “The American Embassy,” what injury keeps the woman in line from moving with any agility?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does the Nigerian Civil War play in Adichie’s short stories? What are the underlying social tensions that sparked the war, and how are they presented? How does Adichie represent the consequences and aftermath of the conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Which of Adichie’s stories are coming of age narratives, and what does coming of age entail, in these stories? What earlier state is left behind? What new state is assumed? What is lost and gained in the transition?

Essay Topic 3

In many stories, there are two different languages being spoken by different characters, and these languages mean different things to different people. Choose three stories and discuss the different vocabularies and sets of meanings that create gaps between people’s understanding. How do the various narrators characterize the differences between languages, whether they be male and female, English and Igbo, African and American?

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