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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. Where do the soldiers Alfa kills in the night always come out of?

2. What entreaty to Mademba does Alfa finish Chapter I with?

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

4. What does Captain Armand tell Alfa that he needs in Part II?

5. What does Alfa think of himself in Chapter III when he "leaves the belly of the earth"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Afla think of the trenches as when he takes Mademba back there with him following Mademba's death?

2. What does Alfa think about his fellow soldiers and his perceptions of who is really is in Part I?

3. How does Alfa always kill the German soldiers he kills after Mademba's death?

4. What does Alfa do as a sign of honor for Mademba immediately after Mademba's death?

5. What was the purpose of the joking relationship between Alfa and Mademba?

6. Why does Alfa think both the Germans and his own allied soldiers flee from him?

7. What does Alfa let the reader know, through his narration, about the way his best friend Mademba died?

8. Why do Alfa's own soldiers begin to fear and avoid him after he brings home the fourth severed hand?

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

10. What does Alfa suspect about Sack's translation to him from Captain Armand?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Alfa feels that his white commanders in the army want him to act the part of the savage, but only when and if it is convenient to them. Write an essay explaining Alfa's feelings about his commanders' perceptions of him as a "savage," citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Alfa begin to work through the horrors of his trauma from the war, and to what extent does he seem to successfully manage to address some of his deep psychological damage from the war at the hospital? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Why does Alfa feel that he owes his best friend Mademba deeply, and in the end of the novel, how does Alfa seem to fulfill what he sees as his debt or obligation to the deceased Mademba? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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