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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. How does the Attorney-General describe himself to the President?

2. According to legend, what happens in times past when the people of Abazon suffer?

3. Where does Ikem meet with the delegation from Abazon in Chapter 9?

4. Who, according to law, has control over what is printed in the national newspaper?

5. Which best describes Chris's opinion of Okong?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the meaning of the poem "Africa" by David Diop, which appears at the beginning of Chapter 10.

2. Describe the relationship between the President and his ministers of government, as revealed in Chapter 1.

3. How is Beatrice portrayed in the media? How does she think of herself?

4. Describe Professor Okong.

5. Why should the President be ashamed, according to Beatrice?

6. Chris urges Ikem to "lie low." If you were Ikem, what would you do?

7. What message about women is portrayed in the African folk tale about why the sky is far away from the earth?

8. Explain what the President wants Okong to do about the demonstration. Why won't he meet with the delegation himself?

9. Who calls Beatrice with an anonymous tip about Chris, and what is the apparent purpose of the calls?

10. What is happening outside the Presidential Palace in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the use of West African Pidgin dialect in the dialogue.

1) Who uses the dialect? Why do some characters use it all the time while others switch back and forth?

2) What attitude is shown toward the dialect by various characters? For instance, consider how Ikem talks "deliberately over the head" of Elewa, and how Emmanuel speaks Pidgin to Adamma on the bus.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of hope for Africa's future expressed in the novel Anthills of the Savannah.

1) What is the significance of the name of Elewa's baby?

2) How is it significant that the baby was named by a group of people from different backgrounds, classes, and faiths--military, worker, academic, market-girl, Muslim, Christian, etc.?

Essay Topic 3

A theme in the novel is the conflict between modern and traditional African cultures. Explore this conflict or dichotomy, considering the following questions:

1) How is modern culture contrasted with the traditional one in Chapter 3 as we go from a scene in traffic to a very mythical story of "Hymn to the Sun"?

2) Beatrice does not know much about traditional culture and is ignorant of myths such as the rather feminist story of Idemili. Why is this a bad thing?

3) What wisdom is possessed by the Abazon elders and how is this contrasted with the wisdom, or lack thereof, in the university group Ikem speaks to?

4) In what sense does Beatrice seem to have two people inside her--the prophetess and the modern, educated woman?

5) How do traditional and modern clash in the baby-naming ceremony in Chapter 18, and how is the conflict resolved?

(see the answer keys)

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