OSI OGEDU: The Moon Also Sets
1. Do you find the title, The Moon Also Sets, relevant to what happens in the novel? Illustrate, referring to the novel.
2. Show how the setting is significant in the portrayal of themes in the novel, The Moon Also Sets.
OLE KULET: Blossoms of the Savannah
3. Show how characterization is used to portray the theme of male domination in the novel, Blossoms of the Savannah.
4. Discuss any three major techniques used in Blossoms of the Savannah.
GODFREY MWENE KALIMUGOGO: A Murky River
5. Discuss the use of symbolism in the portrayal of themes in the novel, A Murky River.
6. How effectively has contrast been used in the novel, A Murky River.
7. JANE AUSTEN: Persuasion
‘So! You and I are to be left to shift by our selves, with this poor sick child –and not a creature coming near us all the evening! I knew how it would be. This is always my luck! If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it, and Charles is as bad as any of them. Very unfeeling! I must say it is, very unfeeling of him, to be running away from his poor little boy; talks of his being going on so well! How does he know that he is going on well, or that there may not be sudden change half an hour hence? I did not think Charles would have been so unfeeling. So, here he is to go away and enjoy himself, and because I am the poor mother, I am not to be about the child. My being the mother is the very reason why my feelings should not be tried. I am not at all equal to it.
‘You saw how hysterical I was yesterday.’
‘But that was only the effect of the suddenness of your alarm – of the shock. You will not be hysterical again. I dare say we shall have nothing to distress us. I perfectly understand Mr. Robinson’s directions, and have no fears; and indeed, Mary, I cannot wonder at your husband. Nursing does not belong to a man, it is not his province. A sick child is always the mother’s property, her own feelings generally make it so.’
‘I hope I am as fond of my child as any mother – but I don’t know that I am of any more use in the sick-room than Charles, for I cannot be always scolding and teasing poor child when it is ill; and you saw, this morning, that if I told him to keep quiet, he was sure to begin kicking about. I have not nerves for the sort of thing.’
‘But, could you be comfortable yourself, to be spending the whole evening away from the poor boy?’
‘Yes; you see his papa can, and why should not I – Jemima is so careful! And she could send us word every hour how he was. I really think Charles might as well have told his father we would all come. I am not more alarmed about little Charles now than he is. I was dreadfully alarmed yesterday, but the case is very different to-day.’
‘Well – if you do not think it too late to give notice for yourself, suppose you were to go, as well as your husband. Leave little Charles to my care. Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove cannot think it wrong, while I remain with him.’
‘Are you serious?’ cried Mary, her eyes brightening. ‘Dear me! That’s a very good thought, very good indeed. To be sure I may just as well go as not. for I am of no use at home – am !? and it only harasses me. You, who have not a mother’s feelings, are a great deal the properest person. You can make little Charles do anything: he always minds you at a word. It will be a great deal better than leaving him with only Jemima. Oh! I will certainly go, I am sure I ought if I can, quite as much as Charles, for they want me excessively to be acquainted with Captain Wentworth, and I know you don not mind being left alone. An excellent thought of yours, indeed, Anne! I will go and tell Charles, and get ready directly. You can send for us, you know, at a moment’s notice, if anything is the matter; but I dare say there will be nothing to alarm you. I should not go, you may be sure, if I did not feel quite at ease about my dear child.’
Questions:
- Place the passage in context.
- Describe the characters of Mary and Anne as portrayed in the passage.
- Comment on the major techniques used in this passage.
- Briefly discuss the major themes portrayed in this passage.
8. THOMAS HARDY: Under the Greenwood Tree
.At six o’clock the next day the whole body of men in the choir emerged from the tranter’s door, and advanced with a firm step down the lane. This dignity of march gradually became obliterated as they went on, and by the time they reached the hill behind the vicarage a faint resemblance to a flock of sheep might have been discerned in the venerable party. A word from the tranter, however, set them right again, and as they descended the hill the regular tramp, tramp, tramp, of the the united feet was clearly audible from the vicarage garden. At the opening of the gate there was another short interval of irregular shuffling, caused by rather peculiar habit he gate had, when swung open quickly, of striking against the bank and slamming back into the opener’s face
“Now keep step again, will ye” said the tranter. “It looks better, and more becomes the high class of arrant which has brought us here.” Thus they advanced to the door.
At Reuben’s ring the more modest of the group turned aside, adjusted their hats, and looked critically at any shrub that happened to lie in the line of vision, endeavoring thus to give a person who chanced to look out of the windows the impression that their request, whatever it was going to be, was rather a casual thought occurring whilst they were inspecting the vicar’s shrubbery and grass-plot, than a predetermined thing. The tranter who, coming frequently to the vicarage with luggage, coals, firewood etc, had none of the awe for its precincts that filled the breasts of most of the others, fixed his eyes firmly on the knocker during this interval of waiting. The knocker having no characteristic worthy of notice he relinquished it for a knot in one of the door-panels, and studied the winding lines of the grain.
“O sir, please here’s Tranter Dewy, and old William Dewy and young Richard Dewy, O and all the quire too sir except the boys – a –come to see you!” said Mr. Maybold’s maid-servant to Mr. Maybold, the pupils of her eyes dilating like circles in a pond.
“All the choir?” said the astonished vicar (who may be shortly described as a good-looking young man with courageous eyes, timid mouth, and neutral nose). abandoning his writing and looking at his parlour-maid after speaking, like a man who fancied he had seen her face before but couldn’t recollect where.
“And they looks very firm, and Tranter Dewy do turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but stares quite straight and solemn with his mind made up!”
“O, all the choir,” repeated the vicar to himself, trying by that simple device to trot out his thoughts on what the choir could come for.
“Yes: every man-Jack of ‘em, as I be alive.” (The parlour-maid was rather local in manner, having in fact been raised in the same village.)
“Really sir, ‘tis thought by many in town and country that -”
“Town and country – Heavens, I had no idea that I was public property in this way!” said the vicar, his face acquiring a hue somewhere between that of the rose and the peony. “Well: It is thought in town and country that -”
“Town and country- Heavens, I had no idea that I was public property in this way!” said the vicar, his face acquiring a hue somewhere between that of the rose and the peony. “Well: It is thought in town and country that-”
“It is thought that you be going to get it hot and strong! – excusen my incivility sir.”
The vicar suddenly recalled to his recollection that he had long ago settled it to be decidedly a mistake to encourage his servant Jane in giving personal opinions. The servant Jane saw by the vica’s face that he recalled this fact to his mind, and removing her forehead from the edge of the door, and rubbing away the indent that edge had made, vanished into the passage as Mr. Maybold remarked “Show them in Jane”.
Questions:
- Briefly relate the events that lead to this passage.
- Describe the character of the vicar as portrayed in this passage.
- Cite and explain the themes depicted in this passage.
- What is the significance of this passage to the rest of the novel?
9. CHARLES DICKENS: Oliver Twist
‘Oh, no, no, never mind’, said the young woman, grasping Oliver’s hand; ‘Im better now. Come home directly, you cruel boy! Come!’
‘What’s the matter, ma’am?’ inquired one of the women.
‘Oh, ma’am, replied the young woman, ‘he ran away, near a month ago, from his parents, who are hard-working and respectable people; and went and joined a set of thieves and bad characters; and almost broke his mother’s heart.’
‘Young wretch!’ said one woman.
‘Go home, do, you little brute,’ said the other.
‘I am not’, replied Oliver, greatly alarmed. ‘I don’t know her. I haven’t any sister, or father and mother either. I’man orphan; I live at pentonville.’
‘Only hear him. how braves it out!’ cried the young woman.
‘Why, it’s Nancy! exclaimed Oliver; who now saw her face for the first time; and started back, in irrepressible astonishment.
‘You see he knows me! cried Nancy, appealing to the bystanders. ‘He can’t help himself. Make him come home, there’s good people, or he’ll kill his dear mother and father, and break my heart!’
‘What the devil’s this?’ said a man, bursting out of a beer-shop, with a white dog at his heels; ‘young Oliver! Come home to your poor mother, you young dog! Come home directly.’
‘I don’t belong to them. I don’t know them. Help! help!’ cried Oliver, struggling in the man’s powerful grasp.
‘Help! repeated the man. ‘Yes: I’ll help you, you young rascal! What books are these? You’ve been a stealing ‘em, have you? Give ‘em here.’ With these words, the man tore the volumes from his grasp, and struck him on the head.
‘That’s right!’ cried a looker –on from a garret-window. ‘That’s the only way of bringing him to his senses!’
‘To be sure!’ cried a sleepy-faced carpenter, casting an approving look at the garret-window.
‘It’ll do him good!’ said the two women.
‘And he shall have it too!’ rejoined the man, administering another blow, and seizing Oliver by the collar. ‘Come on, young villain! Here, Bulls’-eye, mind him, a boy! Mind him!’
Weak with recent illness; stupefied by the blows and the suddenness of the attack; terrified by the fierce growling of the dog, and the brutality of the man; overpowered by the conviction of the bystanders that he really was the hardened little wretch he was described to be; what could one poor child do? Darkness had set in; it was a low neighborhood; no help was near; resistance was useless. In another moment he was dragged into a labyrinth of dark narrow courts, and was forced along them at a pace which rendered the few cries he dared to give utterance to, wholly unintelligible. It was of little moment, indeed, whether they were intelligible or no, for there was nobody to care for them, had they been ever so plain.
Questions:
- What immediately precedes this extract?
- What are the themes depicted in this extract? Give illustrations
- Discuss the narrative techniques used in the extract.
- What is the significance of this passage to the rest of the plot of the novel?
TAYEB SALIH: Season of Migration to the North.
10. In what ways is the novel, Season of Migration to the North, relevant to your society?
11. Discuss the theme of absurdity of life in the novel, Season of Migration to the North.
ARTHUR KOESTLER: Darkness at Noon
12. “The end justifies the means.” Show how the doctrine is applied in the novel, Darkness at Noon.
13. Discuss the accusations that have been leveled against Rubashov in the novel, Darkness at Noon.
FERDINAND OYONO: Houseboy.
14. What important lessons do you learn from what happens to Toundi as portrayed in the novel, Houseboy?
15. Closely referring to the novel, discuss the themes of oppression and exploitation in the novel, Houseboy
GRAHAM GREENE: The Heart of the Matter
16. What role do the women characters play in the novel, The Heart of the Matter?
17. Discuss the character of Scobie as portrayed in the novel, The Heart of the Matter?
NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS: Zorba the Greek
18. Discuss the character of Zorba as portrayed in Zorba the Greek, pointing out whether you find him appealing or not.
19. What is the importance of Budha in the novel, Zorba the Greek?
E. M . FORSTER: A Room With a View.
20. Describe the character of Mr. Beebe as portrayed in A Room with a View.
21. Compare the characters of Lucy Honey Church’s suitors in A Room with a View