EXCERPT: 7 Questions on Fathers of Nations
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow. (25 marks)
"I'm leaving" she said. The bed creaked.
"What do you mean you are leaving? "Professor Kimani
asked. He knew the answer: She did not want to stay with him anymore. He
pressed her. "What's going on, Asiya?"
"Newbom has asked me to marry him," she said.
This part he did not know. "Newborn Walomu?" he asked.
Then he sat up in his half of the bed.
"Yes, Newborn Walomu. I'm leaving tomorrow."
"But why, Siya?" He did not wait for her answer.
"Ah! It is his money, isn't it?"
"How dare you, Karanja!" she shouted. Then she also sat
up in her half of the bed and turned a
bedside lamp on and glowered at him. "For you, I've done without money for
over thirty years. Repeat: thirty years! And now you have the gall to say money
is the reason I want to leave?"
"Well, isn't it?" he retorted. "Look, Siya, money
doesn't guarantee happiness."
"Ha!' she scoffed. Then she slid back into bed, turned to her
other side, and wiggled away from him. The bed roared. "You talk of
happiness. You! Have you no shame? You couldn't tell what happiness was if it
fell on your lap and cried out its name." She wiggled farther away.
"Then you say money doesn't guarantee happiness. Never having had it, how
would you know that it doesn't?"
"All I'm saying, Siya, is..." He slid back into bed as
well. The bed protested. " trouble. Plus, more trouble from their
wealth."
"Ha! If their wealth were a problem, why don't they simply
give it away?"
He tried a different approach-Tuni. "In any case, is this a
good time for us to part, so soon after the death of our daughter?"
"Leave Tuni out of this!" she shouted. "She would
still be alive if you had a real car,"
That really hurt. "Tuni didn't die in our car, Siya,"he
said limply in self-defence. Then he tried another angle-age.
"What happened to couples aging together gracefully anyway?
Sixty is no age to part, surely, is it?"
"You mean I should have left earlier, before I turned sixty?
Well, 'l did not' does not mean 'l should not', nor does I did' mean 'l will'.
That is why if I did not leave before, now I should. And it is why if I did
stay then, now I will not."
She left the following morning.
Excerpt 7 Questions on Fathers of Nations
a)
Place
the excerpt in its immediate context. (4 marks)
b)
Describe
the cause of Tuni's death. (4 marks)
c)
Discuss
one thematic concern evident in the excerpt. (2 marks)
d)
Who
is Newborn Walomu? (2 marks)
e)
Identify
and illustrate three styles used in the excerpt. (6 marks)
f)
t)
How has Asiya been portrayed in this excerpt? (4 marks)
g)
"Money
doesn't guarantee happiness." Why is this statement ironical coming from
Karanja? (2 marks)
h)
Provide
a question tag. (1 mark)
He knew the answer,………………………..?