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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. Which sacrament is performed immediately following the sentencing in the prison?
(a) Last Rites.
(b) Communion.
(c) Reconciliation.
(d) Matrimony.

2. What is the rumored purpose of the ground markings left by Jarvis and the magistrate in Ndotsheni?
(a) They mark out a village dairy.
(b) They mark out a new church.
(c) They mark out a new village school.
(d) They mark out a dam.

3. Whose death devastates the villagers of Ndotsheni?
(a) Jarvis’ wife.
(b) Gertrude.
(c) The tribe’s chief.
(d) Kumalo’s wife.

4. Complete the following statement Kumalo makes when Arthur Jarvis’ son announces he will soon leave Natal: “When you go, something _______ will go out of Ndotsheni.”
(a) Harmonious.
(b) Important.
(c) Joyful.
(d) Bright.

5. Which of the following is NOT a reason Absalom gives for having a revolver at all?
(a) Because he was told Johannesburg was a dangerous city.
(b) Because he had grown up having and using guns.
(c) Because he thought he needed it for self-defense.
(d) Because he thought it would frighten people off.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does James have a hard time looking at each day upon entering Arthur’s house?

2. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways the agricultural demonstrator intends to improve the farming in Ndotsheni?

3. How does the agricultural demonstrator think the farming improvements will affect the future of Ndotsheni?

4. What did Absalom do with the revolver after the murder?

5. What does Msimangu give Kumalo during their final moments together?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the focus of the novel shift at the beginning of Book Two? Who becomes a secondary protagonist and when does their story start?

2. Briefly describe the relationship between James and Arthur Jarvis. How does it differ from Arthur’s relationship with his mother?

3. Describe the build-up, events, and results of the black mining strike.

4. What does Absalom give as his defense for owning a gun when the Judge asks him about it?

5. How does James Jarvis react when Kumalo tries to thank him for all the good work he is doing in Ndotsheni? Why does he likely react this way?

6. What becomes Kumalo’s obsession when he returns to Ndotsheni, and what ways does he act on it? What are the results of his efforts?

7. What surprises James Jarvis most about people’s reaction to his son’s death?

8. Briefly summarize Arthur Jarvis’s argument about the responsibility of whites to blacks in the papers James Jarvis reads.

9. Summarize the main events of the meeting between James Jarvis and Kumalo at the house of Jarvis’ kinswoman Barbara Smith.

10. Compare and contrast James Jarvis and John Harrison, Sr.’s attitudes towards blacks before James starts reading Arthur’s papers.

(see the answer keys)

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