View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator find when she rushes to the hospital?

2. Who discusses the mysteries of birth and death with the narrator?

3. What does Aunty Nabou demand?

4. According to the narrator, what did Modou do to gain her as a wife?

5. How many years has the second wife been married to the deceased?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the irony in the marriage offer from Dauoda?

2. What is special about the narrator and how is this looked upon?

3. What are two things Modou mentions in his correspondence to the narrator?

4. What is the goal of the school the narrator attends?

5. How does the narrator learn of Modou's new wife and what is she told?

6. How does the narrator react to the news and what does she think?

7. What are some things Daouda does when he visits the narrator that implies his future offer of marriage?

8. What does people think about Mawdo's marriage to Aissatou?

9. What does Modou do upon returning from France?

10. What is a mirasse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Morality is another concept that seems to be taught and thought about less often now than in the time of So Long A Letter. How has morality changed in the United States since the 1950's? What is considered acceptable now that was considered immoral then? What is still considered immoral now as then? Should morality change? Is the differences between what was considered moral behavior then versus now that significant? Has the United States been negatively impacted by the changing moral climate of the country? Has it been positively impacted? Such areas to consider might be marriage vs. living together; gay relationships; cheating or stealing; parent-child relationships.

Essay Topic 2

Forgiveness. Many people think of forgiveness as an individual act of one person forgiving someone else, as in the story when Ramatoulaye forgives first her husband for deserting her and then her daughter, Aissatou for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. This is one type of forgiveness, but let's look at forgiveness on a grander scale. Research and write an essay on how Germany was treated at the end of WWI versus the end of WWII--what were the differences?

How did the harsh treatment of Germany after WWI contribute to WWII happening, if it did--would Germany have become a different country if it had been treated with forgiveness after WWI?

Do you think that the fact that Germany, Italy, and Japan are successful nations today has to do with the forgiveness offered them after WWII--discuss whether nations be forgiven aggression after they are defeated and how much reparations should be exacted.

Essay Topic 3

Political systems. Several political systems are mentioned in this book, democracy and socialism being the most prominent. Research the differences between democracy and socialism. How would life in the United States be different under a socialist form of government versus a democracy. Compare and contrast a country that is considered to be a democracy versus one considered socialist. Look at individual rights, worker's rights, class structure, and one other field of your choice, such as medicine or education.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,012 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample