'Life Is Sweet at Kumansenu' Questions.docx



Life Is Sweet at Kumansenu How does Bola explain the death of her first six sons? Bola thought, because she knew it was one child all the time whose spirit had crept up restlessly into her womb to be born and mock her.What does Musa tell Bola to do with the corpse of her sixth son? Advised her and her husband to break the bones of the quiet little corpse and mangle it so that it could not come back to torment them alive again. c. What does she do instead? She refused to let them mutilate it. Secretly, she had marked it with a sharp pointed stick at the left buttock before it was wrapped in a mat and taken away.d. What does Meji say is his reason for suddenly coming to visit his mother and daughter? He didn’t have a reason he visited unexpectedlye. What shocking news reaches Bola near the end of the story? Meji found dead.First Thoughts 1. When did you begin to guess the truth about Meji? When he came to visit and he made his visit end short, also he didn’t want to be seen by anyone or let anyone know he was in town.Shaping Interpretations 2. Nicol uses foreshadowing to hint at what is going to happen later in the story. Go back and see how many clues you can find that foreshadow the truth about Meji. Fill in the rest of the chart using #1 as a guide: ClueWhat It Foreshadows1. The mark on Meji’s body1. He is the same child who has died six times.2. She refused to let them mutilate it. Secretly, she had marked it with a sharp pointed stick at the left buttock before it was wrapped in a mat and taken away.2. ? He didn’t have a reason he visited unexpectedly3. When he came to visit and he made his visit end short, also he didn’t want to be seen by anyone or let anyone know he was in town.3. Bola thought, because she knew it was one child all the time whose spirit had crept up restlessly into her womb to be born and mock her.4. She found it and then dropped it, leaning against the wall with a little cry.4. Bola looked very crestfallen. She was so proud of Meji and wanted to show him off. The village would never forgive her for concealing such an important visitor.3. Which passage in the story do you think best sums up its main message? The main message is that there is a girl named bola that has 6 sons that die and a son that is her 7 and dies at 314. What do you make of Bola’s final comment to Musa, the magician? I am glad I did not, and that is why he came back specially to thank me before he went for good. I am glad I gave him the opportunity to come back, for life is sweet. I do not expect you to understand why I did so. After all, you are only a man.Connecting with the Text 5. This story takes place several years ago in a village in West Africa, where beliefs and visions of reality may be different from those of your culture. Despite those differences, how does the story suggest values that all people share? All people are from different and all countries are different and everyone has different ways and opinions Extending the Text 6. Think of one other person, from real life or literature, who, like Bola, have defied authority or the law (maybe even the laws of science) in order to save a loved one. What do this person and Bola have in common? How are they different? They love each other and would like to show everyone their love for each other.7. Modern social pressures and changes are breaking down many of the old customs in Africa. What evidence of this do you find in Nicol’s story? Do you think such changes are taking place today all over the world? Why, or why not? In some places they are the same and in some places are different so there is no way of telling the changes of countries unless it’s on the news. ................
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