Devil on the Cross Quizzes

Devil on the Cross Quiz 1

1 Who in Ngũgĩ's life was responsible for helping him to prioritize his education?
His mother

His father

His stepbrother

A distant relative from Nairobi
2 Forming the backdrop of Ngũgĩ's early life were ___.
the Mau Mau Uprising and French settler colonialism

the Mau Mau Uprising and British settler colonialism

the presidency of Jomo Kenyatta and a land rush in Kenya

the presidency of Jomo Kenyatta and a renaissance in Kenyan peasant life
3 While at Leeds, Ngũgĩ's peers ___.
helped to bankroll the publication of his earliest works

recommended him for the Nobel Prize in Literature

helped to foment his early interest in Marxism and revolutionary ideology

helped to cowrite Ngũgĩ's earliest dramatic work
4 "A Grain of Wheat" marked a shift in Ngũgĩ's narrative technique in that ___.
narrative focus on the individual was foregone in favor of a focus on the collective

it was Ngũgĩ's first novel to focus on Kenyan peasants and workers

the novel was Ngũgĩ's first foray into satire

it was written in English, where all of Ngũgĩ's earlier works were written in Gĩkũyũ
5 While working at the University of Nairobi, Ngũgĩ fought most distinctly to ___.
raise the wages of graduate students and custodial staff

center African literature and remove the word "English" from the Literature Department's name

accept a more diverse coalition of students, including many white settlers

take down campus monuments to corrupt Kenyans and foreign dignitaries
6 A turning point in Ngũgĩ's life came in 1977 when ___.
he was arrested and detained at Kamiti Maximum Security prison

he was fired from the university and forced into exile

he met his wife Njeeri

an assassination attempt was made on his life
7 While incarcerated, Ngũgĩ made the decision to ___.
pursue revolutionary Marxism and foment insurrections against the government

write only in Gĩkũyũ from that point onwards

return to his ancestral village for the remainder of his days

write only satire from that point onwards
8 Ngũgĩ's novel "Matigari" caused a stir when ___.
its Marxist undertones scandalized the global literary scene

it was distributed in samizdat around Kenya, much to the government's chagrin

the Moi government mistakenly issued an arrest warrant for its fictional protagonist

it was not translated into English, and Ngũgĩ said that he would never translate the novel
9 Ngũgĩ wrote "Devil on the Cross" ___.
while in voluntary exile in the U.K.

in order to issue a direct challenge against the American presence in Kenya

on toiletpaper in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison

while working on the faculty of the University of Nairobi
10 An inadvertent effect of Ngũgĩ's choice to write "Devil on the Cross" in Gĩkũyũ was that ___.
it failed to attract a large, international readership

his manuscript of the novel was spared confiscation from a prison officer

the novel spurred an international revival in interest in Gĩkũyũ

it avoided censorship by the Kenyan government, which did not have Gĩkũyũ representation
11 In writing "Devil on the Cross" in Gĩkũyũ, Ngũgĩ intended for each of the following EXCEPT:
To skirt using the language of the oppressor to criticize their own systems of oppression

To reflect reality as it is from the eyes of his own people and culture

To alienate a wider audience in favor of something more intimate and personal

To speak directly to peasants about their conditions in their own langauge
12 In the frame story of the novel, we are told that our narrator is ___.
Warĩĩnga herself

Warĩĩnga's mother

Gatuĩria

a Gĩcaandĩ Player in Ilmorog
13 The narrator begins the novel by telling us that they ___.
are hesitant to tell us the story of Warĩĩnga, since we are outsiders to Ilmorog

will enthusiastically tell us the story of Warĩĩnga

are a descendant of Warĩĩnga herself

are lucky enough to have known Warĩĩnga personally
14 Complete the quote from the novel's opening: "The voice of the people is ___."
the voice of our land

the voice of a nation

the voice of purpose

the voice of God
15 We get early evidence that our narrator may not be a wholly reliable one in that ___.
he describes Warĩĩnga in the opening chapter with derisive and sexist language

he explicitly mentions his dislike for Warĩĩnga as well as the other central characters

he mentions that he was among the people who evicted Warĩĩnga from her apartment

he starts Warĩĩnga's story in the wrong place, then corrects himself
16 Which of the following provides early evidence of the neocolonial regime's impact on Warĩĩnga?
She tries to lighten her skin and straighten her hair.

She is rescued not by a woman, but a man at the bus stop.

She tries to commit suicide in front of a bus.

Warĩĩnga's lover is a young revolutionary.
17 Warĩĩnga's recurring nightmare symbolizes ___.
the involvement in the church of the Rich Old Man from Ngorika

a dislike for the church, which Warĩĩnga recognizes as an instrument of white supremacy

horror at the compradores and tycoons who allow foreigners and other evil powers to build Hell on Earth for the people of Kenya

her desire to end her life and be scrubbed entirely from the face of the Earth
18 In telling her own story through the thin allegory of Kareendi, Warĩĩnga alludes to ___.
the Biblical Parable of the Talents

the Gĩkũyũ ballad of Kamoongonye

a popular song about a man named Kĩhara

real locations around the city of Ilmrog such as the Golden Heights
19 In propositioning Warĩĩnga, Boss Kĩhara does all of the following EXCEPT:
Attempt to shame Warĩĩnga by calling her old-fahsioned

Woo Warĩĩnga considerately, outside of the office environemnt

Pervert scripture to suit his purposes

Offer Warĩĩnga wealth and gifts
20 The man who saves Warĩĩnga at the Kaka bus stop is also the man who ___.
rescued her years earlier from the railroad tracks

speaks first at the Devil's Feast

she is engaged to at the novel's end

invites her to the Devil's Feast in Ilmorog
21 Mwaũra's use of gossip as a sales technique, as well as his sloganeering, suggest ___.
that he places value in language, just like Ngũgĩ himself

that he is sexist towards women, especially African women

that, in his prior career, he was a man of the church who delivered sermons

that he is a person of loose morals, who will do anything to turn a profit
22 When Wangarĩ tells Mwaũra that she cannot pay the bus fare, how do most of the other passengers respond?
They are sympathetic towards her but offer her no immediate remedy.

They ignore her and allow Mwaũra to try and throw her out.

They admire her for having fought in the Mau Mau Uprising and offer to split her fare among themselves.

They think Wangarĩ to be a thief, until she tells them her story.
23 While recounting her story, Wangarĩ recalls that she was arrested because ___.
of her failure to pay off the debts related to her farm

she walked through Nairobi dressed in traditional kitenge garments

of her earlier actions in the Mau Mau Uprising

a Black man who worked for a white hotel owner thought her to be a thief or spy
24 The fact that Wangarĩ faces vagrancy charges at the courts is emblematic of ___.
the way in which people are willing to sell out their own countrymen for profits

the way in which the European colonial establishment sees local women as aimless and lazy

the way in which foreign powers and money have made locals feel alienated in their own country

the way in which women are often reduced to prostitutes in the eyes of local men
25 Wangarĩ ultimately says that she is going to Ilmorog in order to ___.
visit her parents in Njeruca, from whom she is estranged

attend the Devil's Feast as a distinguished guest

stop the Devil's Feast before it even is allowed to begin

cooperate with the police and reveal thieves and robbers, so as to lighten her own sentence

In Chapter 3, the narrator tells us Gatuĩria is aware "that the slavery of language is the slavery of the mind" (58). Though it seems rather contextual, this quote in fact expresses a central tenet of Ngũgĩ's text—that is, the language that we use...

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