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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. Why do all the women abandon preparing the food for the uri and rush off to the Obierika's crop field?

2. How are the children of the village prepared for the Feast of the New Yam?

3. What are the things that Okonkwo fears most?

4. What does the law state in Umuofia if a woman runs away from her husband?

5. Ekwefi awakes Okonkwo early in the morning pounding on his door. What is she anxious to tell him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain what role the egwuwu, the ancestral spirits of the clan, has in the public trials of the nine villages of the clan.

2. Explain why sharecropping is a very difficult way to get ahead for Okonkwo, and how it impacts his parents and sisters.

3. Relate how Okonkwo is able to plant his first yam-seeds when his father gives him nothing.

4. 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.

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

6. Describe the Week of Peace celebrated in Umuofia . How does Okonkwo violate this sacred peace and what are the consequences?

7. 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.

8. Describe how Okonkwo goes against his nature when he goes to find Ikwefi at the sacred cave.

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

10. Predict what might happen later in the book from the conversation of Obierika, Machi, and Okonkwo when they talk about "what is good in one place is bad in another . . ." and that the polite name for leprosy is "white skin".

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the Igbo culture, there are feminine and masculine crimes.

1) Describe the difference between feminine and masculine crimes.

2) Which is considered more severe by the people and why?

3) Which of the two crimes did Okonkwo commit and what was his punishment?

Essay Topic 2

While waiting for Ezinma to be released from the cave of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves, she has a flashback.

1) What does this flashback reveal about her relationship with Okonkwo?

2) How does it compare with their present relationship?

Essay Topic 3

Enoch, the court messenger, is the cause of one of the biggest conflicts between the white man and the clan members. Describe the consequences of his offense and how it leads to further tragedy in the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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