In the Shadow of War

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which detail most clearly develops the story’s theme of Motivations of Loyalty?

A) Omovo’s father warns him about the eclipse.

B) Children throw things at the veiled woman.

C) Omovo refuses the soldier’s offer of ten kobo.

D) The soldiers drink palm-wine with Omovo’s father.

2. Why does Omovo give the soldiers a fake name?

A) He wants to make them laugh.

B) He instinctively distrusts them.

C) He likes to show off his cleverness.

D) He wants to get another boy in trouble.

3. Which detail reveals that Omovo’s father is religious?

A) He covers the radio with a white cloth.

B) He wears a shabby old coat.

C) He believes the eclipse may stop the war.

D) He pours a libation before leaving the house.

4. Why do the soldiers sit in the bar all day?

A) It is easier to wait for information about the woman than to search for her.

B) They know that the woman always walks by the bar at a certain time each day.

C) The woman collects supplies at the bar to deliver to the people at the camp.

D) They plan to track the woman in the cooler evening hours.

5. Why does Omovo think, at first, that the bodies in the river are canoes?

A) His innocence prevents him from grasping such a horrible reality.

B) He is gradually losing his eyesight as the story progresses.

C) The transformation of the canoes is an example of magic in the story.

D) He does not know that canoes are never used in the river.

6. Why is the removal of the woman’s black veil by the soldiers a turning point in the story?

A) Omovo sees that the woman is brave.

B) Omovo understands why the soldiers hate the woman.

C) Omovo begins to see the true atrocities of war.

D) Omovo learns that the woman is a witch.

7. Who are the women and children in the rough camp?

A) Family members of the veiled woman

B) People displaced by the civil war

C) Members of a rebel army

D) Spies being pursued by the three soldiers

8. Which of the following best exemplifies the story’s theme of The Ambiguity of Morality in Times of War?

A) The veiled woman brings food to the camp but spits in the soldier’s face.

B) Omovo’s father prays to his ancestors but drinks wine with the soldiers.

C) The soldiers shoot the woman but carry Omovo home to his father.

D) The children are fascinated by the veiled woman but throw things at her.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. In what ways has Omovo grown up by the end of the story, and in what ways does he remain a child? 

2. The words shadow, eclipse, and black-veiled occur throughout “In the Shadow of War.” What ideas and feelings do these words convey, and how do they help develop one or more themes in the story?