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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. What kind of protest affects Kumalo and Msimangu’s attempts to locate Absalom?
(a) A bus boycott.
(b) A mining strike.
(c) A voting rally.
(d) A labor march.

2. What is Stephen Kumalo’s profession?
(a) He is a teacher.
(b) He is a reverend.
(c) He is a tribal chief.
(d) He is a farmer.

3. How long does it take to erect Shanty Town?
(a) One year.
(b) One week.
(c) One night.
(d) One month.

4. How does Kumalo torture Absalom’s girl at first out of his disgust for her previous lifestyle?
(a) He tells her he knows Absalom is not the baby’s father and they bear no responsibility for it.
(b) He tells her she must give the baby to him to raise with his wife while she remains in Johannesburg.
(c) He tells her she must sleep with him if she wants to be looked after.
(d) He tells her Absalom has refused to marry her.

5. How many accomplices did Absalom have in the murder?
(a) Four.
(b) Two.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following reactions are black leaders NOT hoping to elicit from whites with the decrepit conditions of Shanty Town?

2. What neighborhood did the murdered white man live in?

3. What tragedy does the black woman suffer?

4. Where does the white reformatory worker say Absalom currently lives?

5. How does Kumalo travel to the city?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Kumalo as soon as he arrives in Johannesburg? How does this reinforce his feelings about the city?

2. Describe Kumalo’s initial physical reaction when the white reformatory worker comes to apologize. Why does Kumalo behave this way? What effect does it have on the white reformer?

3. Why is Kumalo upset that John Kumalo decides to get a lawyer to defend his own son in the trial about the murder?

4. Explain why the lawyer, Mr. Carmichael, takes Absalom’s case without payment.

5. How does Gertrude react to seeing Kumalo in Johannesburg? How does she feel about her own behavior, and the prospect of returning to Ndotsheni?

6. Explain the irony of the death of Arthur Jarvis at the hands of a black person.

7. What feelings do Stephen Kumalo and his wife have before they open the letter they receive at the beginning of the book? Why do they feel this way?

8. How does the first chapter describe the land of the Umzimkulu valley? How does this reflect on the state of the people who live there?

9. Describe two sides of the debate that whites have about “native crime” as indicated in the conversations in Chapter 12.

10. Describe the reaction of the pregnant girl to the prospect of living in Ndotsheni. Why does she react this way?

(see the answer keys)

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