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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following kinds of trees surrounds the house Kainene buys?

2. About which of the following is the first piece Richard writes at Madu’s behest?

3. Which of the following names attaches itself to Ugwu?

4. What name does Odenigbo’s mother give to his child?

5. Which of the following afflicts Ugwu when Odenigbo’s mother visits after his infidelity?

Short Essay Questions

1. What event spurs Olanna to move back in with Odenigbo?

2. How does Muokelu apologize to Olanna after commenting aspersively on Kainene?

3. What reasons does Ugwu note for suspecting foul play from Odenigbo’s mother?

4. What reasoning does the priest Olanna visits give her for forgiving Odenigbo?

5. What, ultimately, is the obunigwe?

6. What reason is given for the lack of supplies at the relief center?

7. What are Olanna’s initial clues about Odenigbo’s infidelity to her?

8. What reasoning is given for resisting Ugwu as a teacher?

9. What reason does Ezeka give for not living in the Government Reserved Area (427)?

10. What is Kainene’s reaction to Richard’s determination to attend a memorial for Winston Churchill’s death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider Richard’s attitudes toward being a writer expressed at the beginning of Chapter 3. What anxieties do they betray? How do they betray them?

Essay Topic 2

Repeatedly in Half of A Yellow Sun, Ugwu makes particular note of what he serves to whom at dinner and drinks. For one such character, explain the significance of the meal and drink service; that is, what does it indicate about that character that Ugwu focuses on the details of the table for him or her, and how does the text support the indication?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the poem Ugwu notes having memorized in Chapter 4:

I can’t forget that I’m bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me.
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters rushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new. (105-06)

What resonance does the poem have in its context in the novel? How does that resonance emerge?

(see the answer keys)

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