View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What refreshments does Brandt offer Rosa when she visits his home?

2. Why is Rosa not able to attend Greer's trial?

3. What does Rosa state is her underlying reason for going to stay with Katya?

4. What do Brandt and others believe Lionel could have become had he not been a traitor?

5. At Donna's party, what is the Englishman's opinion of Utopia?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Greer's trial all about, and what is its outcome for Greer?

2. What is the party for that Georges plans and what does Gaby do for Rosa for the party? How does Pierre react?

3. Why might Rosa have chosen a married man as her lover and not the bricklayer she had met?

4. What horrific event takes place on June 16th 1976 in South Africa?

5. What happens with the woman in the street that Rosa finds and how does it affect her?

6. Where and when does Rosa meet Bernard? What does their relationship quickly become?

7. What is the significance of Flora's party to Rosa?

8. What is the consequence of Bassie's phone call for Rosa?

9. What is the reason for Flora's party? What specifically do the women discuss?

10. How is finding Bassie the complete opposite of what Rosa would have imagined?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Rosa's view of death after the man dies in the public square. How does she equate the death of the ordinary man to her parents' deaths and to her brother's death?

Essay Topic 2

What is Bernard's role in the novel? Why does Gordimer create his character? What contrasts is the reader made to see through him?

Essay Topic 3

In what style is the book written? How does this style add to the book's purpose? How does it allow the reader to view different perspectives?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,163 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample