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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. Hearing what word often brings tears to Cudjo's eyes within the interviews?
(a) Mother.
(b) Slave.
(c) Son.
(d) Africa.

2. With whom does Cudjo share both his fruit and his obvious affections at the start of Chapter II?
(a) Cudjo's closest neighbor.
(b) Cudjo's caretaker.
(c) The twin daughters of Cudjo's granddaughter.
(d) Cudjo's dog.

3. Cudjo tells Hurston that he had been the son of which wife of his father's?
(a) The chief wife.
(b) The second wife.
(c) The sixth wife.
(d) The third wife.

4. What does Cudjo name as his first inclination regarding the likely reason for the chief's decision to summon boys over the age of 14?
(a) He thought the boys would be put into the army.
(b) He thought the boys would begin to be taxed.
(c) He thought the boys would be sold as slaves.
(d) He thought the boys would have marriages arranged for them.

5. The text states that the Dahoman year was split into two parts that included what two elements?
(a) Celebrations and mourning.
(b) Spring and summer.
(c) Wars and festivals.
(d) Marriages and funerals.

Short Answer Questions

1. The four men responsible for the deal that resulted in Cudjo's status as a slave included how many of the Meaher brothers?

2. In what month and year did Zora Neale Hurston first meet Cudjo?

3. How old does Cudjo say he had been when he had last seen Africa?

4. On which coast of Africa were the barracoons of Whydah located?

5. Upon leaving Cudjo at the end of Chapter I, Hurston describes him as having his "bare feet exposed" (23) to a cloud composed of what types of insects?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Zora Neale Hurston's purpose for including a photograph of a doorway just prior to the Preface of Barracoon?

2. What is the significance of Cudjo's reaction when Hurston tells him to focus on his own story rather than on his grandfather's story?

3. Explain the customs followed by the wives of a deceased man in Cudjo's former African community.

4. What does Cudjo say about secrecy within his former community in Africa?

5. Cudjo discusses a particular practice undertaken by rich men's daughters in his former community in Africa. What is that practice he describes?

6. What does Cudjo mean when he tells Hurston that his family "ain' got no ivory be de door" (19)?

7. What were the consequences for the Meaher family as a result of their decision to fund a journey to import slaves to Alabama?

8. What reason does Cudjo give for having another visitor the first day Zora Neale Hurston comes to interview him at his home?

9. What is Cudjo's reaction when Hurston calls him Kossula?

10. In the story Cudjo tells about a murderer in his African village, what penalty is enacted after the accused is found guilty?

(see the answer keys)

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