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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 Alfa describe his mother's and father's relationship?

2. What does Alfa suspect about Seck's translation of Captain Armand's directions to Alfa?

3. How does Alfa quickly begin to feel about the German soldier he kills in Chapter XII?

4. When do the white soldiers suddenly decide to stop obeying Captain Armand?

5. What did the chief of Alfa's old village once propose that the village grow exclusively?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Alfa think the war has done to him, as he explains in Part III?

2. What does Alfa bring to the hospital with him, and why?

3. Why does Alfa suspect his father did not let him go with Penndo Ba when she left?

4. What method does Doctor Francois use to help patients work through their trauma?

5. Why does Yoro Ba want to "give" Alfa's mother to his father in marriage?

6. What does Alfa do to make sure no one finds his severed hands?

7. Why does Penndo Ba leave Alfa's father?

8. Who takes Alfa in after his mother leaves and fails to return?

9. What did Alfa do to try to catch the person who killed his friend Jean-Baptiste?

10. What are the circumstances of Alfa's first sexual experience with a woman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are Alfa's own feelings and beliefs regarding black magic and sorcery throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does the apparent mystical merging of Alfa and Mademba in Alfa's body at the end of the novel relate to Diop's exploration of the theme of opposites that Diop focuses on throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

When and how does Alfa express remorse for his brutal acts of vengeance against German soldiers in the wake of Mademba's killing? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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