Multiple Choice Questions on “The Lion and the Jewel”

Multiple Choice Questions

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‘A savage custom, barbaric, out-dated
Rejected, denounced, accursed
Excommunicated, archaic, degrading
Humiliating, unspeakable, redundant,
Retrogressive, remarkable, unpalatable.’

(1) What custom does Lakunle refer to in the above excerpt?
(a) the seduction of a maiden
(b) wrestling contests as an exercise
(c) the practice of polygamy
(d) the payment of bride price.

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‘The time has come when I can fool myself no more. I am no man. Sadiku, my manhood ended near a week ago.’

(2) In the light of subsequent happenings, these words reveal that the speaker
(a) abhors polygamy
(b) has become impotent
(c) is a crafty seducer
(d) is disgusted with life.

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‘… Aha! Here comes Sadiku
Do you bring some balm
To soothe the smart of my armpit.
Away, you enemy.’

(3) What is the nature of the balm referred to by the speaker?
(a) an antiseptic ointment
(b) a special method of massage
(c) news about Sidi
(d) a gourd of palm wine.

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(4) The immediate consequence of the publication of Sidi’s picture is to make her
(a) want to marry the photographer
(b) feel more important than Baroka
(c) want to go to the city
(d) appreciate Lakunle’s learning.

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Lakunle: … To fetch and carry
To cook and scrub
To bring forth children by the gross

Sidi: Heaven, forgive you! Do you now scorn child bearing in a wife?

(5) What would Lakunle rather prefer to accomplish before child bearing?
(a) formal education
(b) good kissing habit
(c) racial and sexual equality
(d) church wedding.

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(6) Lakunle is presented as a
(a) fine specimen of an educated young man
(b) truly progressive and enlightened youth
(c) strong defender of the people’s tradition
(d) caricature of a modern educated man.

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‘ … I am the twinkle of a Jewel
But he is the hind-quarters of a lion.’

(7) These lines suggest that
(a) Sidi is superior to the Bale
(b) Sidi is weaker than the Bale
(c) Sidi is cleverer than the Bale
(d) the Bale is violent.

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(8) The central theme of the play is the
(a) ills of modern days
(b) clash between tradition and modernity
(c) problem of courtship
(d) conflict between the old and the young.

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‘… But there have been
No new reeds cut by the servants,
No new cots woven …’

(9) It can be inferred from the he lines above that
(a) there has been no harvest in the village
(b) the Bale’s servants are lazy
(c) no children have been born recently
(d) the Bale’s servants are revolting.

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‘… He risked his life that you may boast
A warrior hunter for your lord … But you
You sell him to the rhyming rabble
Gloating in your disloyalty …’

(10) In these lines, the ‘rhyming rabble’ refers to
(a) clowns who wait on the Bale
(b) children in Lakunle’s school
(c) professional singers
(d) the mummers who dance in mockery of the Bale’s rumoured impotence.

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(11) The two characters that symbolize the lion and the jewel respectively are
(a) Lakunle and Sidi
(b) Baroka and Sadiku
(c) Sadiku and Sidi
(d) Baroka and Sidi

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‘This is the world of women.
At the moment our star sits in the centre of the sky
We are supreme.’

(12) These words were spoken by
(a) the favourite
(b) Sadiku
(c) Sidi
(d) the third girl

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(13) The Bale is symbolically referred to as a fox because of his
(a) mental prowess
(b) sexual prowess
(c) physical prowess
(d) royalty

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(14) Which of the following character traits will apply to Lakunle?
(a) comic and absurd
(b) stupid and simplistic
(c) pompous and spontaneous
(d) decisive and bold.

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(15) Which of the following divisions is used as a technical device to denote the symbolic significance of certain events?
(a) day, morning and afternoon
(b) morning, noon and night
(c) morning, evening and midnight
(d) mid-day, mid-night and morning.

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Check the answers below.

Answers

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