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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part II (Pages 30 - 58).

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Alfa believe his thoughts belong to?
(a) Mademba.
(b) His mother.
(c) His commander.
(d) Him alone.

2. What does the voice inside Alfa's head tell him as he stayed with Mademba when Mademba was dying?
(a) To run away and leave the war.
(b) Not to kill Mademba and play God.
(c) To kill Mademba.
(d) To respect his mother's wishes and only to kill enemy soldiers.

3. What rumor begins to spread about Alfa in Chapter VI?
(a) That he is an imposter.
(b) That he is a God.
(c) That he is the wealthy son of a businessman.
(d) That he is a sorcerer.

4. Where does Alfa get the idea of how to preserve his severed hands?
(a) From how they dried fish in his village, Gandiol.
(b) From the dried meat they eat in the trenches.
(c) From the tobacco leaves all the other soldiers hang from the rafters.
(d) From the dried sheep his first wife taught him how to cure.

5. How does Alfa sometimes refer to himself in Part II?
(a) The seventh child of the sixth child.
(b) The youngest child of the old man.
(c) The romulan.
(d) The second son of the second son.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Alfa when the novel starts?

2. What work of Pascal Quignard's does Diop reference in the beginning of Part I?

3. Why are the fires the men make in the trenches so small?

4. What does Alfa hear the night he approaches the German trenches to avenge Jean-Baptiste's death?

5. What does Alfa understand that Captain Armand wants on the battlefield, but not back in the trenches?

(see the answer key)

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