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

2. How many bullets were in the revolver at the time Absalom shot Arthur?
(a) Three.
(b) One.
(c) Four.
(d) Two.

3. What building does Jarvis’ wife want to finance for Ndotsheni?
(a) A medical clinic.
(b) A refrigerated outbuilding for milk.
(c) A school.
(d) A church.

4. Who sends and puts Kumalo in charge of distributing resources for the village children?
(a) John Kumalo.
(b) Msimangu.
(c) James Jarvis.
(d) The tribe’s chief.

5. What is the agricultural demonstrator’s attitude toward white people?
(a) He is bitter that blacks must rely on whites for assistance when whites suppressed them in the first place.
(b) He sympathizes with the fear whites have built for themselves and hopes to work directly with them toward better racial understanding.
(c) He wishes they would give blacks their own nation and leave them alone.
(d) He is grateful for their assistance in lifting blacks up.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does Kumalo use to describe a quality about Arthur to James?

2. Who performs the sacrament that is performed immediately following the sentencing in the prison?

3. Which of the following worry that John Kumalo’s speech to black miners could lead to an uprising?

4. What name does Absalom ask his father to name his child if it is boy?

5. Who will the lawyer submit a final appeal for mercy to in Absalom’s case?

Short Essay Questions

1. Compare and contrast Napoleon’s and Kumalo’s attitudes towards James Jarvis.

2. Compare and contrast Absalom and his wife’s reactions to their wedding.

3. Describe the incident Kumalo tells his friend about as a way of explaining his idea that James Jarvis is a compassionate man.

4. Describe how Napoleon Letsitsi comes to be in Ndotsheni.

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

6. How does the village chief’s interaction with the magistrate and James Jarvis support John Kumalo’s earlier statement about chiefs, “He is a trick, a trick to hold together something that the white man desires to hold together.”

7. Explain the metaphorical usage of the rainstorm that occurs in Book Three, Chapter 3.

8. Compare Arthur Jarvis’ son’s attitude toward Kumalo and by extension blacks, to the attitude of the generations above him.

9. 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?

10. What is the Judge’s ruling in the cases against Absalom and his two accomplices, Johannes and Matthew, and what are the Judge’s reasons for his verdicts?

(see the answer keys)

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