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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. What does Maureen run for at the end of the book?

2. What does Bam realize about his feelings for his wife in Section 7?

3. What is born within Maureen’s hut?

4. In Section 6, what does Victor note some Africans are, unlike July?

5. What does Bam do to rectify the situation after a villager accuses the children of something in Section 6?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what Bam’s feeding of the children shows, in terms of his role in the household, compared to his previous life?

2. Describe the gumba-gumba, and the resulting party atmosphere.

3. What does the author mean when she says Victor is angry “with a white man’s anger, too big for him”?

4. Explain why Maureen thinks they need to leave in Section 9.

5. After more conversation in Chapter 6, what does Martha reveal she was really concerned with?

6. What is July’s mother’s primary objection to the white people?

7. What is missing when the Smalls arrive back at the hut in Section 9, and what does this likely mean for the family?

8. What does it imply that the chief can speak in English, but doesn’t at first?

9. Explain why the chief wants to learn to use a gun.

10. Describe the shared moment of mockery between Martha and Maureen.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

July plays up his power role in his home community, telling the Smalls he is listened to in his village and that he is powerful. However, Maureen accuses him of attempting to use them, and their belongings, to further his power. Why would July need the Smalls, or their things, to improve standing in his community, and what does this imply about July as a person?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the character of Maureen at the beginning of the novel, and at the end of the novel. What are similarities? What are differences? How has she changed through the novel, and what caused her to change?

Essay Topic 3

The gun is a symbolic object in the novel. What does it symbolize to Bam and Maureen? To the villagers? To July? To Daniel? To the chief? In the end what happens to it, and how does this affect Bam? How does it affect Maureen?

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