EXCERPT: 14 Fathers of Nations Questions
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow. (25 marks)
President Bibo Dibonso was a forced
to reckon with. Forty years of supremacy had turned power into a habit then
into a toy, and Dibonso himself into a permanent bully. On that day, a new
anger was troubling him. Its cause, also new, had come only that morning. He
had slept like a log the night before and, like a log, woken up stiff. This was
not new. He woke up stiff like a log often these days. So, that morning, he
decided to loosen up, for all it was worth, by standing up then bending down
and straightening up again, once. The cause of his new anger arose from that
little workout. In a first sign of loss of self-control, something warm
trickled down between his legs. This had never happened
before; it was new. A bolt on some valve inside him had gone loose, basically owing
to old age. Old age has uncanny ways of loosening bolts even on valves best
left alone.
He showered, of course, but his self-image had already suffered a
blow no shower could undo. Since that incident, all words he uttered had a new
anger, a terror he unleashed to make up for a loss of self-worth caused by an
internal valve gone haywire. That anger was in his every word now.
"You have been quite a disgrace, Mr Chairman," he began.
This language was extreme, even by his extreme standards.
"What did you say, President Dibonso?" asked the Chair,
pretending he had not heard.
"You've totally lost control of the summit, Mr
Chairman."
"What exactly do you mean by that, President Dibonso?"
"This debate is supposed to be about Way Omega and path
Alpha. yet didn't you just let someone raise an imaginary issue not in either
of these documents?" President Dibonso was referring to President Ibarosa,
another fire-eater, and dared not mention him by name. "And I'll tell you
something else, Mr Chairman."
"Keep it, President Dibonso," said the Chair curtly.
President Wasiwasi Wesiga, an old hand who had anticipated many
coups and nipped them in the bud before they got off the ground, was first to
spot brewing trouble. He moved at once to end it. "POINT OF ORDER,"
he shouted. He did not want trouble. CHAIRMAN, POINT OF ORDER!"
"Nonsense!" snapped the Chair at him. "What point
of order?" Confused by his own fury after his clash with President
Dibonso, he thought he was snapping at that President.
"Its about The Trick, Mr Chairman," said President
Wesiga. He had taken no offence for being snapped
at.
Excerpt 14 fathers of nations questions
a)
Place
this excerpt in its immediate context. (5 marks)
b)
Discuss
one thematic issue evident in this excerpt. (2 marks)
c)
Explain
the imaginary issue that president Ibarosa raised, that was supposedly not in
either of the documents. (2 marks)
d)
With
clear illustrations, identify three styles used in this excerpt. (6 marks)
e)
How
has president Dibonso been portrayed in this excerpt? (4 marks)
f)
Using
information from elsewhere in the text, explain what The Trick is. (4 marks)
g)
Give
the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt.
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(ii) Fire-eater