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ANSWERS

TEST 1

1. A
2. C
3. B
4. B
5. A
6. B
7. C
8. A
9. C
10. C
11. Present some reasoning such as this, in your own words: To determine the antagonist it's necessary to know what the conflict is. In Book I, Kumalo struggles to locate his son, in Book II to achieve inner peace, and in Book III to do something for his people. It's difficult to see any one person in the story blocking his way. Instead, everywhere he turns, he runs into the deterioration of tribal ways, caused by the white men's intrusion in the world of black Africans. The only antagonist that seems clear at all is the current socioeconomic situation for black Africans in Kumalo's world. This is shown by the laws of segregation, the wages paid black people, the lack of adequate housing, poor education and medical care for blacks, and the legal power held by whites. If any one group of people is the antagonist, it would have to be the white government. If the antagonist is a force, it has to be the whole weight of customs and traditions put into effect by whites and followed, almost without thinking, by everyone.

12. Specific examples will be particularly necessary in this answer, and the question excludes the most obvious ones. You might start with a sentence such as this to show that you grasp the question: Although restrictions on trains and buses clearly show apartheid at work, daily customs show it even more clearly. Then use examples that show how strongly both blacks and whites show that they know they must not be too friendly with each other. One example occurs at the Smiths' house when Jarvis doesn't help Kumalo get up, though he wants to, because a white man doesn't touch a black man. Or think of how Kumalo and Msimangu marvel at white men defying the law to carry blacks as passengers during the bus boycott. There are the forms of address, as well. Clearly it is a great honor for a white man to call Kumalo Mr. Kumalo instead of using the Zulu honorific umfundisi. Since the question doesn't mention the courtroom's being segregated, you might include that as well-a rather strong point, since the judge claims in his speech that justice is the same for all men, black or white.

13. In this answer you might borrow from your discussion of social pressures in answer 11. Absalom and Matthew might never have turned to crime had they been able to earn a decent living and live in decent housing. Absalom in particular shows good character when in the reformatory setting; check what the white man in charge says of him in Chapter 10. Indeed, from his talks with his father, he seems to have fallen into crime more through fear of his companions than through his own inclinations. As for Arthur Jarvis, there would have been no need for him to die had not social pressures driven the Kumalo boys into a life of crime.

14. Whatever you defend as the climax, a place to start is the point of emotional intensity, the point at which you felt most strongly "Oh no!" or "I knew it!" Given the basic conflicts in this story, the turning point has to be considered the point at which Kumalo's search comes to an end and, also, the point which brings to a focus all the little bits and pieces presented up till then on the pressures causing blacks in Johannesburg to deteriorate morally. If the action has turned to tying up loose ends or the providing of solutions, we're past the climax. Both events named in the question certainly fit, but which fits better? Or could the actual moment of climax be yet a third event happening about that same time-the arrest of Absalom? Make your choice and then defend it according to the definition of climax.

15. To defend this statement you would want to stress chapters such as 9 (housing problems), 12 (arguments about native crime), and 23 (effects of the gold find at Odendaalsrust) which further the story very little, but which delve into social issues. You could also use the passages in various chapters where the omniscient narrator takes over and comments on tribal breakdown, the climate of fear in Johannesburg, etc. To refute the statement, you would want to stress the fact that all this information on social problems is presented through the fictional story of how all those pressures affect one black family and one white family. There would be no reason to discuss the social issues if it weren't for the Kumalos and the Jarvisesand their story is fiction.

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