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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 Nelson tell Ruth May to say instead of "snake?"

2. Where does Rachel want to spend the year in Africa?

3. What does Leah picture as her future career?

4. In what year did Orleanna and her family leave the United States?

5. Who narrates Book 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Orleanna remember about Africa in Book 1?

2. Why do the people of the village stare at the Prices? Which family member did people used to stare at? Why do you think this person seems more normal to the villagers than the other family members?

3. What happens in Book 2 that makes the Price family and the villagers think that Adah has died? What really happened?

4. Orleanna says that her journey in Africa came to a bad end in Book 1. What do you think will happen that will make Orleanna's journey end badly?

5. Why does Mama Tataba quit working for the Prices? Do you agree with her decision?

6. What does Nathan want to happen on the day of the church picnic? Does this happen? Why or why not?

7. Why does Orleanna go to the Congo? With whom does she go?

8. Why does Adah think that church should be called the "Church of the Lost Cause." What does Nathan think about this?

9. How is Adah different than the rest of her family?

10. What does Book 2 tell us about Nathan and his relationship to the family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe what happens to each of the three remaining daughters after Ruth May's death. Include in your answer the following:

1) How did the Congo change each person?

2) How did Ruth May's death affect each person?

3) Which of the three girls emerges from the Congo the strongest?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Nathan Price and Brother Fowles. How are their attitudes and approaches toward the village of Kilanga and the Congo different? What do you think each represents or symbolizes within the book?

Essay Topic 3

In The Poisonwood Bible, Orleanna's narrative looks back in time, while the other characters narrate from the present.

1) Why do you think Kingsolver included one narrative that looks back in time?

2) What does this type of narration add to the novel?

3) Why do you think Orleanna's character is the one looking back?

(see the answer keys)

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