Recommended; IJMB Literature 101 Past Questions 2016
INTERIM JOINT MATRICULATION BOARD EXAMINATION 2016
SUBJECT: LITERATURE – IN- ENGLISH, PAPER II: PROSE – FICTION
TIME ALLOWED: THREE HOURS (3 HRS)
INSTRUCTION: Answer section ONE (1) and TWO (2) other questions; ONE (1) from section B and one other from section C.
SECTION A: UNSEEN PROSE PASSAGE (30 marks)
INSTRUCTIONS: Read the following passage and answer the questions below
1. It took him the whole spring from March to June, to make up his mind to take me. All I thought was Nettie. How she could come to me if I marry him and he be so love-struck with I could figure out a way for us to run away. We both be hitting Nettie’s school books pretty hard cause we know we got to be smart to get away. I know I’m not as pretty or as smart as Nettie, but she says I ain’t dumb.
The way you know who discover America, Nettie say is to think about cucumbers. That was what Columbus sound like. I learned all about Columbus in first grade but looks like he the first thing I forgot. She says Columbus come in boats called the Neater, the Peter and the Santomareater. Indians so nice to him he forced a brunch of ‘em back home with him to wait on the queen. But it is hard to think about getting married to Mr ……… hanging over my head.
The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never cares that I love it. Nettie stood there at the gate holding right to my hand. I was all dressed for the first day. You too dumb to go to school, Pa say, Nettie the clever one in this bunch.
But Pa, Nettie say, crying Celie smart too. Even Miss Beasley says so. Nettie dote on Miss Beasley. Think nobody like her in the world.
Pa says whoever listens to anything Addie Beasley has to say. She run off at the mouth so much no man would have her, that how come she have to teach school. He never looks up from his cleaning his gun. Pretty soon bunch of white men come walking across the yard. They have guns too. Pa got up and follow ‘em. The rest of the week I vomit and dress wild game.
- Provide a suitable title to the passage (3 marks)
- Why does Celie drop out of school? (3 marks)
- Who is the older of the two, Celie or Nettie (3 marks)
- Explain the meaning of the underlined expression (3 marks each = 12 marks)
- Why is Addie Beasley a school teacher? (3 marks)
- Identify the irony in the passage (2 marks)
SECTION B: NON – AFRICAN FICTION (25 MARKS)
INSTRUCTION: Answer ONE (1) question only
2. Illustrate the dark side of humanity as portrayed in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
3. Consider the role of the female characters in Austen’s Emma and their position in Eighteen Century English society.
4. Discuss the tragedy of the black man’s life in the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming.
5. How far is “civilization” responsible for the tragedy in Golding’s Lord of the Flies?
SECTION C: AFRICAN NOVELS (25 MARKS)
INSTRUCTION: Answer ONE (1) question only
6. Using a novel you studied in class each for illustration, compare and contrast the Francophone and Anglophone novelist attitude toward colonial domination.
7. Discuss the authors’ approach to politics in Gimba’s Footprints and La Guma’s A Walk in the Night
8. To what extent can we say Chinua Achebe’s intention to clarify Africa’s history and culture is a success in Things Fall Apart?
