Table of Contents
- Question 68: American Slave Narratives
- Question 69: False Statement about Frederick Douglass
- Question 70: Novels by John Steinbeck
- Question 71: Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
- Question 72: Facts about Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Question 73: Match List - Contemporary Global Fiction
- Question 74: Match List - Global Poets and their Works
- Question 75: Match List - African Novels
- Question 76: Match List - African American Literature
- Question 77: True Statements about Chinua Achebe
Question 68
Which among the following is NOT an American Slave narrative?
Songs of Enchantment (1993) is a magical realism novel by the Nigerian author Ben Okri. It is the sequel to his Booker Prize-winning novel The Famished Road.
The other three options are foundational historical texts belonging to the Slave Narrative genre. Equiano (1789), Bibb (1849), and Northup (1853βfamous for Twelve Years a Slave) all wrote firsthand autobiographical accounts detailing the horrors of slavery to fuel the abolitionist movement.
Question 69
Which of the following is false about Frederick Douglass?
Statement 4 is FALSE. Up from Slavery (1901) is the famous autobiography of the educator and post-Reconstruction leader Booker T. Washington.
Frederick Douglass wrote three different versions of his autobiography over his lifetime, the most famous being the first: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Statements 1, 2, and 3 are entirely true reflections of Douglass's life and immense historical impact as a fugitive slave turned abolitionist orator.
Question 70
Which of the following are the novels written by John Steinbeck?
A. The Naked and the Dead
B. The Grapes of Wrath
C. East of Eden
D. To Kill a Mockingbird
E. Cannery Row
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Identifying the major works of the Nobel Prize-winning American author, John Steinbeck:
- (B) The Grapes of Wrath (1939): His Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece about the Joad family migrating from the Dust Bowl.
- (C) East of Eden (1952): His epic, multi-generational retelling of the Cain and Abel story set in the Salinas Valley.
- (E) Cannery Row (1945): A celebrated novel focusing on working-class characters in Monterey, California.
Why the others are wrong: The Naked and the Dead is Norman Mailer's great WWII novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is by Harper Lee.
Question 71
In whose poem do the readers meet "Aunt Jennifer's tigers"?
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers is a widely anthologized feminist poem by the American poet Adrienne Rich (published in her 1951 debut collection, A Change of World).
The poem contrasts the heavy, oppressive, and terrifying reality of Aunt Jennifer's patriarchal marriage (symbolized by the "massive weight of Uncle's wedding band") with the fearless, proud, and immortal tigers she is embroidering on a needlepoint tapestry.
Question 72
Which among the following are true in the context of Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
A. He was a Caribbean novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist.
B. He was affectionately known as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America.
C. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
D. Love in the Time of Cholera is a Memoir written by Marquez.
E. His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in 1967.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Analyzing the facts about the great Colombian author Gabriel GarcΓa MΓ‘rquez:
- (B) True: He was universally known as "Gabo".
- (C) True: He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.
- (E) True: His magical realism masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude, was published in 1967.
Why A and D are wrong: Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel (fiction), not a memoir (D is false). While MΓ‘rquez spent much of his life working on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, he is definitively categorized as a Latin American or Colombian novelist, making the strictly "Caribbean" label in statement A technically false for exam purposes.
Question 73
Identify the correct pairs:
A. Ian McEwan β Amsterdam
B. Italo Calvino β If on a Winters Night A Traveller
C. Amitav Ghosh β The Circle of Reason
D. D M Thomas β Everest Hotel
E. Doris Lessing β The Testaments
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Identifying the correct author-text pairs in contemporary fiction:
- (A) True: Ian McEwan won the Booker Prize for his dark novel Amsterdam (1998).
- (B) True: Italo Calvino wrote the classic postmodern, metafictional novel If on a winter's night a traveler (1979).
- (C) True: Amitav Ghosh debuted with the highly acclaimed novel The Circle of Reason (1986).
Why D and E are wrong: The Everest Hotel is a novel by Allan Sealy (not D.M. Thomas). The Testaments is the 2019 Booker-winning sequel to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (not Doris Lessing).
Question 74
Match List I with List II:
| List I (Poet) | List II (Poem) |
|---|---|
| A. Emily Dickinson | I. Woman to Man |
| B. Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal) | II. Banking Potatoes |
| C. Judith Wright | III. Because I could not stop for Death |
| D. Yusef Komunyakaa | IV. We Are Going |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Matching major 19th and 20th-century global poets to their famous works:
A. Emily Dickinson β (III) Because I could not stop for Death. The legendary American poem personifying death as a polite carriage driver.
B. Kath Walker β (IV) We Are Going. Her deeply moving poem regarding the displacement of Aboriginal Australians.
C. Judith Wright β (I) Woman to Man. The Australian poet's famous exploration of conception and female physical experience.
D. Yusef Komunyakaa β (II) Banking Potatoes. The Pulitzer-winning African American poet's reflection on physical labor.
Question 75
Match List I with List II:
| List I (Novel) | List II (Author) |
|---|---|
| A. The Famished Road | I. Buchi Emecheta |
| B. The Bride Price | II. Nadine Gordimer |
| C. Half of a Yellow Sun | III. Ben Okri |
| D. The Lying Days | IV. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Matching major works of African literature to their authors:
A. The Famished Road (1991) β (III) Ben Okri. The Booker Prize-winning novel featuring Azaro, an abiku (spirit child).
B. The Bride Price (1976) β (I) Buchi Emecheta. A classic Nigerian novel detailing the tragic consequences of traditional marriage customs.
C. Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) β (IV) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A highly acclaimed novel set during the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War).
D. The Lying Days (1953) β (II) Nadine Gordimer. The debut, semi-autobiographical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning South African author.
Question 76
Match List I with List II:
| List I (African American Author) | List II (Work) |
|---|---|
| A. Richard Wright | I. A Mercy |
| B. Toni Morrison | II. Kindred |
| C. Barbara Chase-Riboud | III. American Hunger |
| D. Octavia Butler | IV. Sally Hemings |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Matching prominent African American authors to their works:
A. Richard Wright β (III) American Hunger. The posthumously published autobiographical sequel to Black Boy.
B. Toni Morrison β (I) A Mercy (2008). A novel exploring the early roots of American slavery in the 1680s.
C. Barbara Chase-Riboud β (IV) Sally Hemings (1979). A groundbreaking historical novel about Thomas Jefferson's enslaved mistress.
D. Octavia Butler β (II) Kindred (1979). The legendary sci-fi novel where a modern Black woman repeatedly time-travels to the antebellum South.
Question 77
Which among the following are true in the context of Chinua Achebe?
A. He wrote Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart.
B. His "Novelist as Teacherβ is a seminal essay in the context of African Literature.
C. The name of the tribe he depicted in Things Fall Apart is Igbo.
D. He is a Kenyan born American litterateur.
E. He wrote the essay βAn Abolition of English Department.β
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Analyzing the facts concerning the "father of modern African literature," Chinua Achebe:
- (A) True: He wrote Things Fall Apart (1958) and Arrow of God (1964) (parts of his African Trilogy).
- (B) True: He wrote the highly influential 1965 essay "The Novelist as Teacher," arguing that an African writer has a duty to educate their society and restore dignity lost to colonialism.
- (C) True: The protagonist Okonkwo and the village of Umuofia belong to the Igbo (Ibo) tribe in Nigeria.
Why D and E are wrong: Achebe was definitively a Nigerian author, not "Kenyan-born" (D is false). The radical essay advocating the abolition of English departments (replacing them with African Literature departments) was championed by the Kenyan author NgΕ©gΔ© wa Thiong'o, not Achebe (E is false).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Slave Narrative?
A genre of literature developed in the 18th and 19th centuries consisting of written accounts by enslaved (or formerly enslaved) African Americans. The purpose was to provide undeniable, firsthand testimony of the cruelties of slavery to support the abolitionist movement. Famous authors include Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.
Why is Chinua Achebe's essay "The Novelist as Teacher" important?
In it, Achebe rejects the Western idea of "art for art's sake." He argues that because African societies suffered deep cultural and psychological damage from colonialism, the African novelist must act as a teacher, helping their society regain belief in itself and its history before the white man arrived.
What is the "African Trilogy"?
Chinua Achebe's foundational set of three novels that trace the history of the Igbo people from pre-colonial independence through the tragic effects of British colonization. The trilogy consists of Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God.
