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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 is the name of the hotel that Rachel owns?

2. How did Orleanna stay alive after Ruth May's death?

3. Who is the last of Leah and Anatole's children?

4. What does Adah study in her work?

5. Whose picture did Orleanna have in the kitchen house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Rachel in her life? Do you think she is happy?

2. What regrets does Orleanna voice about her family and the situation in the Congo?

3. What do Rachel and Adah learn? From where do they each learn this?

4. How is Orleanna changed when she finally gets up from bed? Who does she influence?

5. What does Tata Ndu want from the family in Book 3? How does the family respond?

6. Where does each of the girls go after Ruth May's death?

7. What does Leah tell Anatole? What does he tell her in return? Why do you think he responds this way?

8. Why do you think Adah says that the loss of life isn't always unwelcome?

9. Why do you think that Leah now feels uncomfortable in the United States?

10. What living creature invades Kilanga? What do the villagers do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Kingsolver brings the United States into the novel in several different ways. What role did the United States play in the Congo at a national and village level? What does Kingsolver seem to think about the United States' role in the events in the Congo? Do you think the United States should have been involved in the Congo?

Essay Topic 2

Kingsolver narrates the novel through five characters. How does she make the characters sound and feel different? What effect does the five narrators have on the novel? Why do you think Kingsolver used this device in the novel? What unique insights does each character give about the Congo, the family, or other aspects of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the religions, cultures, and other differences between the Congo and the United States. Which characters in the novel seem to bridge these differences? Which ones do not?

(see the answer keys)

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