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Life is Sweet at Kumansenu, page 330.
Angels! I’m out. Please stick to the homework schedule on reading assignments. Any quizzes scheduled for today will take place next class.
Please return your answers to the substitute at the end of class.
You many not finish, but you should get pretty close to finished. As long as I get a good report from the sub we will finish the questions in class later.
Before you begin reading, please look up any of the following words that you don’t already know and define them: prosperity, mock, mangle, mutilate, midwife, pensive, exuberant, zenith, endearing, cajole, diffuse, complacent, intercession, maternal, perceptive.
Once you have defined the words, read the story and answer the questions below. Look for techniques that build suspense and for examples of magic realism.
Suspense : a technique authors use to create a feeling of expectation in the reader. A suspenseful story often has a tense mood, and makes a person eager to read ahead.
Makes effective use of foreshadowing.
Magic Realism: term that refers to the incorporation of scientifically impossible, or magical, elements into a story whose details are otherwise realistic. The magic content is depicted in realistic terms, as if it were a matter of course. One noted practitioner of magic realism is Gabriel Garcia Marques, who said, “My most important problem was destroying the lines of demarcation that separate what seems real from what seems fantastic.”
Please answer the short answer questions in complete sentences, in your own words.
1. What was Abioseh (Davidson) Nicol’s purpose in writing his own fiction?
2. Nicol has worked as a.
an author b.
a scientist c.
a school administrator d.
an ambassador to the UN e.
all of the above
3. What city is the capitol of Sierra Leone, and who founded it?
4. Why do you think the author begins with a description of the setting?
5. Why does the widow Bola refer to her six dead children as “he”? Please answer in your own words, in complete sentences.

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6. What is tied around Meji’s neck?
7. When he first arrives, Meji seems a.
tired and pensive b.
rested and cheerful c.
irritable but healthy d.
exuberant and playful
8. Which of the following points does not help build suspense? a.
Asi observes that Meji doesn’t have a shadow. b.
Meji’s watch has stopped at noon. c.
Meji does not want anybody to know he is home. d.
Meji is glad to see his mother.
9. How do Meji and Bola know that Meji’s father is listening to him?
10. What does Bola discover that is intensely disappointing to her? a.
Meji has been fired from his job in the city. b.
Meji is going to take Asi to live with him in the city. c.
There is a dead rat in Meji’s room. d.
Meji has been throwing his meals out the window.
11. Based on the context, the world grave (in the first column on 335) most likely means a.
serious b.
cheerful c.
amused d.
attractive
12. According to Mr. Addai, Meji died a.
Thursday b.
Friday c.
Saturday d.
Sunday
13. The crowd of villagers does not believe Bola when she says that Meji has been with her. What happens that causes them to doubt their disbelief? a.
Bola faints. b.
Mrs. Meji recounts the circumstance of his death. c.
Asi announces that he was wearing a red scarf. d.
Asi knows how to open the locket that she has supposedly never seen before.
14. Musa tells Bola, that Meji’s whole life was a mockery of her. What is he talking about when he says she should have mangled him? Do you think he is right? Please explain your answer clearly, citing at least one example from the story.

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15. List one example of foreshadowing from the story.
16. The theme of “Life is Sweet at Kumansenu” can best be described as a.
Life is precious b.
People are skeptical c.
Death comes to all sooner or later d.
Children are more perceptive than adults
17. What does Meji mean when he says, “I want to thank you for giving me a chance”?
Please answer in at least one complete sentence.
Before you start reading, please look up any of the following words that you don’t already know and define them: voracious, reconcile, destiny, aristocracy, bourgeois, hypocrisy, indifferent, thwart, subordinate, vanity, nimble, refine, stupor, silhouette, intrigue, profile, extinct, bisque, exuberant, extravagant, ornamental, intimidated
Read “The Youngest Doll,” pages 481-486. This story is a little bizarre.
Literary Terms
Magical Realism: Fiction that is mostly realistic, but that contains elements of the supernatural and represents them as if they were fact to emphasize the idea that reality is a matter of perception
Symbolism refers to the use of symbols in stories. A symbol is anything that is used to represent something else. For example, the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom.
Please answer all short answer questions in your own words, in complete sentences.
1. The way it is used in the second paragraph of the story, “resigned herself to” most likely means a.
quit b.
accepted c.
resisted d.
embraced
2. The chandelier at the top of 483 is a metaphor for a.
the maiden aunt b.
the family’s aristocratic past c.
the household furnishings d.
the family
3. Ferre calls the creation of a new doll a “birth.” This serves to a.
humanize the dolls

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reinforce the status of the dolls as symbols for the little girls c.
explain why the aunt never considered selling the dolls d.
c only e.
all of the above
4. What does the aunt do to protect the dolls from prawns?
5. Find the simile on p. 484. Copy it down in quotation marks.
6. What reason does the doctor give for not curing the aunt’s injury when the prawn first bit her? Please answer in your own words, in a complete sentence.
7. What is surprising about the doll that the aunt gives her youngest niece on her wedding day? a.
It is filled with honey. b.
It is warm. c.
It’s teeth are her own baby teeth. d.
both b and c e.
none of the above
8. Why do you think Ferre refers to the young doctor’s body as a “paper silhouette”
(495)?
9. Why does the young doctor make his wife sit out on the balcony?
10. What does this tell us about his motivation for marrying her?
11. What is the young doctor’s first selfish act toward his wife?
12. What is the young doctor looking for when he digs up the ground around his house?
13. The young doctor uses his wife in the same way he uses the doll. Which of the options below best describes the comparison? a.
He treats both as if their chief value is ornamental. b.
He exploits both for economic gain. c.
He treats both as his personal property. d.
All of the above e.
b and c only
14. What does this image of the doctor’s wealthy patients tell us about them?
They would then feel an uncomfortable urge to rub their hands together as if they were paws (486). a.
They are intimidated by the wife’s aristocratic status. b.
They know the doctor’s wife is really a doll. c.
They are like greedy animals. d.
Their hands are sticky from the sweets they’ve been eating.

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15. The prawns that live in the aunt’s leg and in the youngest doll symbolize a.
dangerous forces in nature b.
medical malpractice c.
the way the bourgeoisie feeds on the aristocracy d.
the aunt’s devotion to her nieces
16. Describe, in your own words, one example of magical realism in the story.
17. Reread “About the Selection” on p. 481. How does the story illustrate the social situation discussed there? Explain in your own words in 4-6 sentences.
Please return this packet and your answers to the sub.