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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the significance of the beating of drums in the village playground, the ilo, where all the great ceremonies and dances of the village take place?
(a) The beating of the drums means that the wrestling match will begin at noon.
(b) The beating drums announce that there is a winner in the wrestling match.
(c) The drums beat as each wrestler is thrown to the ground.
(d) The drums play the wrestling dance in preparation for the wrestling match at sundown.

2. How does eighteen-year-old, Okonkwo, bring honor to his village?
(a) He has no patience with unsuccessful men.
(b) He throws the great wrestler, Amalinze the Cat.
(c) He has a barn full of yams.
(d) He plays his flute in the village after the harvest.

3. Okonkwo and the men of Umuofia take Ikemefuna deep into the forest and kill him with machetes. Who gives the final thrust of the machete that ends Ikemefuna's life?
(a) Okonkwo
(b) Ogbuefi Ezendu
(c) Nwoye
(d) Okafo

4. How does Okonkwo react to the disastrous growing season that destroy all his yams and the yams of his people?
(a) His heart is broken from the loss of his crop, leaving him depressed and suicidal.
(b) He feels he can survive anything, since he has survived this disastrous year.
(c) He gives up being a farmer, and begins looking for a new trade.
(d) He cries and sinks into despair.

5. Why is the big, ancient silk-cotton tree in the playground considered sacred?
(a) The spirits of good children waiting to be born live in the tree.
(b) The tree holds the spirits of all the ancestors of the clan.
(c) The tree holds all the spirits of the men who died in wars since the beginning of time.
(d) The tree is believed to have been the first tree in existence.

Short Answer Questions

1. While talking with Okoye about the war, Unkona changes the subject to which topic?

2. What is the strange event that takes place in the village of Ire that Ofoedo tells Okonkwo and Obierika about?

3. Why do men and women look forward to the Feast of the New Yam?

4. Okonkwo is very prosperous, owning a large compound with many huts, and an abundance of food. Ikemefuna is given to Okonkwo to live with him until the clan decides Ikemefuna's fate. How does Ikemefuna react to living with Okonkwo?

5. What is Okonkwo's punishment for committing a "nso-ani" during the Week of Peace?

Short Essay Questions

1. Evaluate Okonkwo's reputation in the nine villages of Umuofia.

2. Determine the point of view of Mbaino with regard to settling the dispute with Umuofia over the murder of Ezeugo.

3. Explain how Ekwefi defies the traditions of the clan when Chielo takes Ezinma to Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves.

4. Explain how Okonkwo's stern attitude changes when he is awakened in the night because Ezinma is sick.

5. Do you think Okonkwo is justified in reaction when he thinks his second wife, Ekwefi, killed a banana tree during the New Yam Festival? Explain.

6. Describe why Okonkwo is considered a wealthy man by Umuofia's standards.

7. Why do you think so many people in Umuofia gather with excitement to watch the wrestling matches?

8. Okonkwo's father dies in debt, with no titles to his name. Relate why Okonkwo does not have to worry that his father's reputation will be held against him.

9. Who do you think benefits from the judgment of the egwuwu in the trial of Uzowulu and his wife and family and why?

10. How would you justify Okonkwo's harsh treatment of his family and his uncontrollable temper?

(see the answer keys)

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