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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. How does Alfa always kill the enemy soldiers?
(a) He disembowels them.
(b) He shoots them.
(c) He poisons them.
(d) He hangs them.

2. What is the Diop totem?
(a) A peacock.
(b) A panther.
(c) An elephant.
(d) An alligator.

3. Which of the following phrases about God does Alfa repeat throughout Part I?
(a) God, who cannot hear me.
(b) God's truth.
(c) God knows well.
(d) God's light.

4. What earns Alfa his solitude in war in Chapter VII?
(a) The enemy hands.
(b) His unwillingness to wash.
(c) His prayers.
(d) His language.

5. What was the only thing Alfa was thinking about as Mademba died?
(a) His prayers to his mother.
(b) Getting revenge on the soldier who killed Mademba.
(c) His own starvation.
(d) How he himself would survive the day.

Short Answer Questions

1. What rite of passage did Mademba and Alfa share on the same day in their youth?

2. What analogy does Alfa use for Mademba's suffering in Part I?

3. Who translates the words of Captain Armand for Alfa?

4. What does Alfa begin to think almost as soon as Mademba is dead?

5. What does Alfa tell himself to be careful of once he decides he is free to think what he wants?

Short Essay Questions

1. What changes between Alfa and the rest of the soldiers after Jean-Baptiste's death?

2. What does Alfa notice about Ibrahima Sack's translations for Captain Armand to Alfa in Part II?

3. What phrase does Alfa Ndiaye begin repeating immediately in Part I?

4. How does Mademba Diop die?

5. Why does Jean-Baptiste decide to goad the enemy into killing him?

6. What does Alfa really think about Captain Armand's praise for Black soldiers?

7. What does Mademba ask Alfa to do as Mademba lays mortally wounded on the battlefield?

8. Why does Alfa think the mad are useful on the battlefield?

9. Why does Alfa receive the Croix de Guerre, a medal of honor?

10. What does Alfa begin to understand that his fellow soldiers think he is?

(see the answer keys)

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