EXCERPT 16 Answers to Fathers of Nations
(a) Place the excerpt to its immediate context. (4 marks)
Before
• Abiola has rescued Fiona from the Liberian Mauler who had abducted her
with a view to raping her and takes her to his hotel room.
• Fiona notes a scrape on Abiola's brow and offers to attend to it.
• As it is late at night, Abiola offers Fiona a place to sleep for the night.
After
• Fiona tells Abiola that lying is perhaps fun.
• Fiona informs Abiola of a young man, Nick Sentinel, at the VOA who has
a machine he calls the Silent Listener that snoops on wireless transmissions.
• Abiola wonders if Fiona worked with the VOA yet she had told him she
worked for the Gambian News.
(b) Discuss two-character
traits of Abiola and one character trait of Fiona
McKenzie. (6 marks)
Abiola
• He is suspicious/uncasy
He wonders where Fiona's interrogation on his marital life is leading toe
• He is humorous/amusing
He asks Fiona if her name might have changed since the Liberian Mauler
kept calling her 'Joy' a local slang for a streetwalker.
• He is open/forthright/straightforward
He opens up to Fiona about his marital life, telling her that his wife was an
American and she divorced him the previous year.
• He is emotional/temperamental
He is angered by Chiamaka's call during which he accuses him of having
chided him for being drunk, when all he had was a Pepsi.
Fiona
• She is inquisitive/probing/interrogative
She asks Abiola several questions e.g. Did she? That's her name? Pamela?
• She is perceptive/critical/observant
She is quick to note that Abiola has been upset by the call made to him by
Chineke Chiamaka.
• She is open/forthright
She discloses to Abiola that she is not married, "Married?" "Me?"
e Suspicious/dubious/doubtful
She suspects that Abiola was acting as if he might have a wife.
(c) (i) Why do people like to tell lies? (Report) (1 mark)
Chiamaka/He wondered why people liked/like to tell lies.
(ii) The phone rang. (Add a
question tag) (1 mark)
The phone rang, didn't it?
(iii) No, she
divorced me last year. (Rewrite in the passive) (1
mark)
No, I was divorced by her last year.
You seem upset all of a sudden. (Rewrite beginning with the
subordinate clause) (1 mark)
All of a sudden, you seem upset.
(b) Highlight
two themes raised in the excerpt. (4 marks)
• Marriage and family life
Abiola confesses that his wife divorced him the previous year. Fiona, on her
side, tells Abiola that she is not married.
• Moral decay/immorality
Abiola tells Fiona that the Liberian Mauler (the man who had attempted to
abduct her with a view to raping her) kept calling her Joy, which was local
a local slang for a streetwalker/prostitute.
(c) Identify and illustrate two features of style used in the excerpt. (4 marks)
Humour
Abiola humorously asks Fiona if her name might have changed because the
Liberian Mauler kept calling her Joy, which was a local slang for a
streetwalker.
Dialogue
Conversation between Abiola and Fiona which basically reveals the two's
plain/straightforward nature.
• Phone motif
Chiamaka gives Abiola Afolabi a phone call and accuses him of having
chided him for being drunk when all he had had was a Pepsi.
(d) Explain the
meaning of the following words and phrase as used in
the excerpt. (3 marks)
Excerpt 1 Questions Excerpt 1 Answers Excerpt 2 Questions Excerpt 2 Answers Excerpt 3 Questions Excerpt 3 Answers Excerpt 4 Questions Excerpt 4 answers Excerpt 5 Questions Excerpt 5 Answers Excerpt 6 Questions Excerpt 6 Answers Excerpt 7 Questions Excerpt 7 Answers Excerpt 8 Questions Excerpt 8 answers Excerpt 9 Questions Excerpt 9 Answers Excerpt 10 Questions Excerpt 10 Answers Excerpt 11 Questions Excerpt 11 Answers Excerpt 12 Questions Excerpt 12 answers Excerpt 13 Questions Excerpt 13 Answers Excerpt 14 Questions Excerpt 14 Answers Excerpt 15 Questions Excerpt 15 Answers Excerpt 16 Questions Excerpt 16 answers Excerpt 17 Questions Excerpt 17 Answers Excerpt 18 Questions Excerpt 18 Answers Excerpt 19 Questions Excerpt 19 Answers Excerpt 20 Questions Excerpt 20 answers Excerpt 21 Questions Excerpt 21 Answers• improvised — makeshift/temporary
• darkened — dulled/dimmed/gloomed
• Chided -- rebuked/admonished/reproved