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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is this test feared by Senegalese women?
(a) It is very painful.
(b) It determines who will marry her.
(c) It reveals what others think about her.
(d) It can sometimes result in death.

2. What is the occupation of Aissatou's father?
(a) Blacksmith.
(b) Physician.
(c) Painter.
(d) Politician.

3. Why is the narrator upset about the donations from the people?
(a) It's too late to save others with needed medications.
(b) The people do not donate very much.
(c) Most people decline to donate?
(d) The people resent donating.

4. Of what significance is the narrator's unconventional marriage?
(a) It is the first one to have ever taken place in Senegal.
(b) It is the reason she loses her teaching job.
(c) It is symbolic of the New Africa.
(d) It compels new laws granting women complete freedom.

5. What do the participants donate to this person's funeral?
(a) A slave to be sacrificed on the funeral pyre.
(b) Money.
(c) Land for the widows to live on.
(d) Forty head of sheep.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long does the narrator have to stay indoors after the funeral?

2. What does the narrator believe her in-laws do not understand?

3. What does the narrator wonder about those who come to acknowledge the deceased person?

4. What reasons does the narrator give for Modou's taking a second wife?

5. How many children does the woman bear the deceased?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the narrator and her friends make their lives better?

2. What evidence of Modou's negligence to his first family is there? How does the narrator react?

3. What is the first of Modou's secrets that is revealed?

4. What does the narrator think of those who go to school instead of learning traditional crafts?

5. What decision does Ramatoulaye make about her three daughters (the "trio") in light of Aissatou's out-of-wedlock pregnancy?

6. What are the narrator's concerns for some of her children?

7. What does Ramatoulaye tease her friend, Aissatou, about, but what evidence is there that she accepts her friend?

8. What are the circumstances leading up to Modou marrying Binetou?

9. Describe the wake scene for Modou.

10. How does Daouda ask for Ramatoulaye's hand in marriage and what is her response?

(see the answer keys)

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