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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. In Sawi what does "cool water" mean?

2. What have the Sawi villagers constructed around the Richardson home?

3. What is Don Richardson most shocked to discover about the Sawi people?

4. How do the Sawi prepare a body for burial?

5. What insult is hurtled at a Haenam youth which almost starts a serious battle?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Don Richardson shares the story of Jesus with the Sawi men, what is their reaction?

2. What are the four levels of despair in the Sawi ritual of "gefam asan"?

3. In Chapter 24, what does Richardson organize and describe that would have been impossible when he first arrived?

4. What have the Sawi built in the time after modern life and Christianity have come to them?

5. What does Mahaen think the underlying reason for "gefam asan" is?

6. How do the Sawi people know that Warahai's soul has left his body?

7. What is the custom of fighting as described in Chapter 13, War at my Door?

8. What does "my liver trembles" mean in the Sawi idiom?

9. What does Kimi come to do to Warahai?

10. Why does Carol's warm wash water have black specks in it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The shift of government from the remote Dutch authorities to the more present Indonesian authorities brings tremendous change to the Sawi people. What does Richardson say about that change? How and why is that change so dramatic?

Essay Topic 2

It takes a great deal of intelligence to survive in the jungle without modern technology. Yet we often describe cultures like the Sawi tribe as "primitive." What is the difference between the kind of intelligence it takes for a Sawi family to survive in a stone age civilization and the kind of intelligence it takes to graduate from an American university? Are there different kinds of knowledge? Is a Sawi person more observant than the typical American student or less? How would a modern American student fare if set in the jungle with stone tools? How would a Sawi person do in high school or college? Write an essay contemplating Sawi intelligence.

Essay Topic 3

The Sawi language is multi-layered, very complex, poetic, and sophisticated. Why would such a language arise from a culture that has no written language? Or is the fact that the Sawi do not have a written language part of the reason that the verbal language has become so sophisticated? Is their remoteness an asset in terms of language development? Has it given them time to develop a more pure and complicated way to communicate? Or is it the fact that they are such an ancient culture? Richardson struggles with understanding how such a language could come from the Sawi people. What are his thoughts and observations about the Sawi language?

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