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. In “The Shivering,” when does Ukamaka start shivering?

2. In “The Headstrong Historian,” why Nwamgba’s family horrified by the prospect or marriage to Obierika?

3. In “The Headstrong Historian,” what did Anikwenwa learn to do in Lagos?

4. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” what does Akunna’s name mean?

5. In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” where do Odofile and Chinaza live?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “The Shivering,” what causes Ukamaka’s shivering?

2. In “The Headstrong Historian,” what were Nwamgba’s parents’ objections to Nwamgba’s choice of Obierika as husband, and how did she overcome them?

3. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," what had the narrator told her mother to explain how Nonso had died?

4. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” what difficulties does Akunna, the you of the story, encounter in dating a white man?

5. In “The American Embassy,” what injury keeps the woman in line from moving with any agility?

6. In “The Headstrong Historian,” how does Nwamgba end up sending Anikwenwa to learn English from the mission schools?

7. In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” what did the arrangers of marriage not tell the narrator about her husband’s professional status?

8. Who are the main characters of the short story "Tomorrow is Too Far"?

9. In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” how does the narrator characterize the apartment she arrives in with her husband?

10. Who is the You in the story "The Thing Around Your Neck"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does the Nigerian Civil War play in Adichie’s short stories? What are the underlying social tensions that sparked the war, and how are they presented? How does Adichie represent the consequences and aftermath of the conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the difference between the authorial personality and the narrates in Adichie’s stories. How are they similar, how are they different? Where does the author reveal herself in her choices? How are the narrates, like the unnamed narrator of Cell One, different from the authorial persona? How do they represent a consistent personality?

Essay Topic 3

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 946 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample