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Vocabulary
Characters
Major Events
History and Politics
Who Said This Quote?
100
Because Leah and Adah were placed in the Gifted program as small children, they can be considered __________.
Prodigies
100
Which character bears Leah's burden of January 17th? How is it different for this character?
Anatole, but he mourns Lumumba, not Ruth May. (p.430)
100
What major realization does Adah have during the Big Hunt?
All animals kill to survive, and we are all animals. (p.347)
100
Who ordered Patrice Lumumba's assassination?
President Eisenhower
100
"Wheels on a goat. Or on a chicken, or a wife. My father's idea of what will make things work better doesn't fit anything here."
Leah, 284
200
When Nathan first sees his half-naked congregation, he is __________ at their ___________.
wrathful; impurity
200
Which character continues to have conversations with Africa despite the passage of time?
Orleanna (p.492)
200
What does Leah realize during the Ant Night? (several answers possible)
Loves Anatole; cares for Congolese people more than family (p. 310-311)
200
What is the significance of Marilyn Monroe to the novel, as well as this time period? What does she symbolize?
Promoter/advertiser of diamonds, symbolizes American ignorance about the difficulty/danger of acquiring diamonds.
200
"If Rachel ever gets back to Bethlehem for a high school reunion, she will win the prize for 'Changed the Least'."
Adah, 494
300
When Ruth May's __________ grew frighteningly ___________, it seems that ___________ itself sent Brother Fowles' family with medicine to help the Prices.
affliction; dire; providence
300
What is Rachel's philosophy on life and where did she pick it up?
Selfishness, "How to Survive 101 Calamities" (p.516)
300
What dynamic does Rachel observe during the first reunion between her sisters?
Leah and Adah are still very different, but they see eye-to-eye more than ever. They have reached an unprecedented level of understanding that she has no access to. (p.483)
300
What was the Western perception of the Congolese people during this time period?
Poor, savage, uneducated, cannibals, wild, helpless
300
"This is simple. Such a river should not be crossed."
Anatole, 522
400
In parenting his daughters, Nathan Price showed little ____________; doing the Verse as a punishment was much more certain than a mere ____________ for the Price girls, and they had to do it any time Nathan believed them to have done something ____________. Which was often.
laxity; contingency; depraved
400
List at least 1 character who alters language to suit their needs. Be prepared to explain
Nathan (Kikongo mess ups), Rachel (malapropisms), Ruth May (childish babble), Adah (palindromes), Leah (proper Kikongo)
400

Identify one of the major plot events of the novel and explain its significance.

Class thoughts

400

Why, do you think, Lumumba was assassinated?

Patrice Lumumba tried to develop a unified nation from the various tribes of the Congo. To him, self-determination included the ability to choose how to distribute resources. Officials in the American-led West disagreed, and they intervened to change the situation. 

400
"Well maybe they take a different view of their bodies."
Orleanna, 53
500
It is absolutely ____________ to Rachel how Leah could have married a Congolese man. She keeps ____________ about her African staff, believing them to be uncivilized and ____________. What she doesn't understand is that Anatole possesses a better ____________ than she does, seeing as he actually finished school, knows several languages and is generally worldly.
unfathomable; grumbling; unenlightened; edification
500
After the Price women leave Nathan, they each acquire a 'faith' of their own. They start believing in something other than the Christian God. Choose one, and identify her new 'religion'. Be ready to explain, if needed.
Orleanna - gardening; Adah - viruses; Leah - her family; Rachel - herself/the Equatorial
500
In the chess metaphor that Orleanna describes in the beginning of "Bel and the Serpent", there exist the following significant figures: players, king, pawns. Identify what real person/concept these represent.
Players: Belgium and U.S.; King: Mobutu; Pawns: Lumumba and other Congolese leaders; (p.317-318)
500
What has happened in Angola? Why is this significant?
Same thing that happened in the Congo: Angola tried to get independence from the west, but the U.S. prevented them from achieving trying to control their resources. --> Western exploitation of African countries (p.502)
500

The odd thing is when Father was around she never gardened at all. That was his domain, and he directed us all in the planting of useful foods, all to the Glory of God and so forth. We never had one flower in our yard the whole of my childhood." 

Adah (P. 540)