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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 is the first trial's dispute set before Evil Forest and the egwugwu?

2. Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, is celebrating his daughter's uri. Why does this day put the entire neighborhood into a festive air?

3. What does every man and his family do after the Week of Peace?

4. Obierika's daughter, Akueke, is sixteen, just the right age for marrying. How does her suitor and his relatives determine if she is ripe for marriage?

5. As the drums sound and the flutes blast, what appears out of the egwugwu house?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you agree with the old man who said that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit? Justify your answer.

2. 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.

3. 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".

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

5. How do the people of Umuofia justify mutilating the bodies of children who die in infancy or early childhood, refusing to bury them but leaving them in the forest?

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

7. Describe how Okonkwo continues to worry about his son Nwoye, especially after the death of Ikemefuna.

8. Compare the stories of men to the stories of women in Umuofia.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1) Throughout the novel, Okonkwo is afraid of being like his father. Describe the accomplishments Okonkwo achieves in his lifetime that makes him different from his father.

2) Explain why Okonkwo's final act turns his reputation into everything he feared in life.

Essay Topic 2

1) Analyze Nwoye's struggles with coming of age.

2) Would you say that his fears and emotions were a blessing or a curse?

3) Do you defend or criticize his conversion to the white man's religion? Why do you feel this way?

Essay Topic 3

Describe in detail the three rituals of a wedding engagement for the Ibo people: the bride price, the delivery of the palm-wine, and the confession. Give a detailed summary of each ceremony.

(see the answer keys)

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