An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro KCSE Essay Questions and Answers
0754238886 for Answers
A Silent Song and Other Stories Essay Questions and Answers-Set 2
EXCERPT – FATHERS OF NATIONS 25 MARKS Question 1
1. Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow: (25 marks)
Forty-nine foreign heads of state were in Banjul for the summit. All looked happy, and why
not? Had they not escaped from troublemakers in their home countries? They saw ahead of
them a stay free from trouble here, in the Gambia, a country everyone kept calling 'the land of
Kunta-kinteh'. All hoped to get from their stay as much rest as possible. Of course, at some
point, they would each other take the floor and, as fans back home expected, address the
summit, but this was something that they could do with little or no effort at all. For Gambians,
though, the presence of so many visiting dignitaries was not fun. True, forty-nine heads of state
could give a hosting country good publicity, but heads of state are a huge inconvenience. So,
this publicity comes at a high price.
Nowhere is the price higher than it is in Africa. Here, before the dignitaries arrive,
bulldozers dispatched at night in slum-clearance 'exercises' demolish roadside kiosks on
which whole families depend for their livelihood. This way, the dignitaries will see that a
few streets once had sidewalks. Roads get rare layers of tarmac at times of maximum
traffic. This way, motorists come to a standstill when it really hurts. Checkpoints sprout
everywhere. This way, guards get even more bases for extorting bribes from passers-by.
When the dignitaries finally arrive, water taps at which whole neighborhoods queue to get
just buckets of water dry up because now all water has to go to new water fountains built to
mesmerise the visitors.
QUESTIONS
1. Explain what happens immediately before this extract (4mks)
2. Identify and explain two styles used in the excerpt. (4 marks)
3. Identify and illustrate three thematic concerns evident in this extract (4mks)
4. What does the author mean when he says, "Had they not escaped from troublemakers in their home countries"? (4 marks)
5. From your knowledge of the text, who were the four strangers who checked in at
the Seamount Hotel in Banjul for the summit? (4 marks)
6. Add a question tag: This way, motorists come to a standstill when it really hurts.
(1 mark)
7. Explain the meanings of the following vocabulary used in the excerpt. (4 marks)
a) Mesmerise
b) Demolish –
c) Extort –
d) Summit
2. EXCERPT – FATHERS OF NATIONS 25 MARKS
Red the excerpt below then answer the questions that follow
The door to the bathroom opened. Fiona emerged and started walking but stopped. Her eyes
had not adjusted to the darkness in the living room. “Where are you?” she asked.
“Over here” he said. “I have taken a couch in the living room. Go take the bed in the bedroom.”
“You’re acting as if you might have a wife,” she said. “Do you?” “No, she divorced me last
year.”
“Did she?”
“Yes”
“Let’s see now. You studied in America at a marriageable age.”
“Let me guess.” “Go ahead.” “She is American.”
“Who? Pamela?”
“Yes it is. And, yes, she is American. Enough about me now. Let’s turn to you. Shouldn’t your
name still be Fiona McKenzie?”
“Who told you it might have changed?” She started walking to the bedroom. Her eyes had
adjusted to the only light.
“Why was the Liberian Mauler calling you Joy instead?” “It’s local slang for streetwalker.”
“He was calling you a streetwalker?”
“Yes, do you want me to draw a picture for you? Where are you from anyway? Mars?” “No,
Nigeria. Married?” “Me?”
The phone rang. He rose and answered the landline by the couch. When he ended the call, his
mood had darkened.
“What’s the matter?” she asked him. “You seem upset all of a sudden. Who was on the
phone?”
“One Chineke Chiamaka,” he said. “This man was claiming I chided him for being drunk, when
all he had was a “Pepsi”. He wriggled in his improvised bed to protest his innocence against
that claim. “It beats me how he got my suite phone number in the first place,” he added.
“Anyway, I did not chide him. Why do people like to tell lies?”
QUESTIONS
i. What happens immediately before this excerpt? 4marks
ii. Discuss two character traits of Abiola and one of Fiona McKenzie as brought out in
the excerpt. 6marks
iii. Why do people like telling lies? (Write in reported speech) 1 mark
iv. a. The phone rang. Add a question tag 1 mark
b. No, she divorced me last year. (Rewrite in the passive)
v. Highlight two themes raised in the excerpt. 4 marks
vi. Identify and illustrate two features of style used in the excerpt. 4marks
vii. Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt. 3marks
a.
Streetwalker
b. Wriggled
c. Chided
QUESTION 4: FATHERS OF A NATION 20 MKS
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Professor Kimani joined the University of Nairobi directly as a senior lecturer. Even before
taking off, he was already flying. There was a reason. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda had just
dismantled their University of East Africa. Kenya's part of the university, now renamed the
University of Nairobi, found itself with a vacancy it had to fill immediately in its Institute of
Development Studies. Professor Kimani, who had just completed his studies at the University of
Oxford, wrote from there to say he wanted to fill it. To ensure he came and filled it for sure, the
University of Nairobi raised his entry point from that of a lecturer to that of a senior lecturer.
He came. Only a month after his arrival, he launched a noisy debate in which he demanded that
the University of Nairobi henceforth strive for relevance to the society rather than simply
excellence of its work. It was not clear exactly what he meant by relevance to the society.
However, a short six months later, he prevailed. The university official motto became,
After winning this war, he started another war which was even noisier. Now he wanted the
university to be an agent of change, not a mere spectator of it. This was when people still
thought this view was too radical and ridiculed it as simple- minded. So, not surprising, some of
his colleagues, puzzled by his refusal to see that it was simple-minded, did or said little,
convinced that he would fall on his face before long and self-destruct on his own without their
help.
He did not care. After all, his antics in wars that he had started, and won, had also won him the
heart of a campus beauty queen. Her name was Asiya Omondi. He married her on a rainy but
approving Saturday, to claps of thunder and flashes of lightning. How marriage then accelerated
academic success! A professorship soon followed. After that achievement, he felt fulfilled. His
persona now was complete. Had anyone told him this happiness would one day end as it did, he
would have laughed himself upside down.
Questions
i. After Kimani fills a vacancy in University of Nairobi's Institute of Development Studies,
he demands for two changes at the university in quick succession. What are these
changes? (2mks)
ii. Identify and illustrate two character traits of Kimani brought out in this excerpt. (4mks)
iii. Had anyone told him this happiness would one day end as it did, he would have laughed
himself upside down. (Supply a question tag) (1mk)
iv. Discuss two themes raised in the excerpt. (4mks)
v. To ensure he came and filled it for sure, the University of Nairobi raised his entry point
from that of a lecturer to that of a senior lecturer. (Write beginning with the main clause).
(1mk)
vi. The writer says, Had anyone told him this happiness would one day end as it did, hewould have laughed himself upside down." What later happened to Professor Kimani in the text to bring his happiness to an end?
QUESTION 5: FATHERS OF A NATION 20 MKS
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
“What followed?”
“Disaffection is what followed.” Comrade Melusi had finished his sadza. He was washing his
hands in a basin, with water the waiter was pouring down from a pitcher.
“I went back into business.” Now he was washing his lips, over the basin, which the waiter had
raised to his chin.
The visitor reached for his coffee and took a sip. “More like it!” he said. “Nice and hot,” he
added. Then he turned to Comrade Melusi. “Your new business, how did it do?”
“I can’t say it did well. Inflation was eroding incomes faster than they could grow. But I
survived. I didn’t live and work in as clean a suburb as I did before. I just could not afford the
rent there anymore. No, I had relocated to a slum in a poor part of Harare. But, hey, I was alive.”
He laughed, falsely. Sorrow was in his eyes. “Then there came Murambatsvina.”
“Then there came what?” asked the visitor.
“Murambatsvina”. It is Shona, meaning expelling the trash.”
“Please go on.”
“Bulldozers went from slum to slum evicting residents by tearing their homes to the ground.
Murambatsvina expelled us, the trash, all right. We got no advance warning before or alternative
accommodation after. Nobody cared whether we lived or died. We had to go. It did not matter
where. Just go!
“Did anyone explain why you had to leave?”
Question
a) Briefly explain what happens immediately before the excerpt. (3 marks)
b) From the excerpt, comment on any two character traits of Comrade Melusi. (4 marks)
c) Identify, illustrate and state the effectiveness of the features of style in the above excerpt.
(4 marks)
d) Comrade Melusi had finished his sadza. (Begin: His sadza…) (1 mark)
e) But I survived. (Add a question tag) (1 mark)
f) Identify and explain the major theme in the excerpt. (2 marks)
g) From elsewhere in the text, explain what Comrade Melusi says was the true aim of
Murambatsvina. (2 marks)
h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt.
i. Disaffection
ii. Inflation
iii. Suburb
QUESTION 6: FATHERS OF A NATION 20 MKS
Despite having gained Independence; Many African nations still grapple with Neo – colonialism which adversely affects lives. Justify this assertion with illustration from Fathers of Nations by John Lara. (20marks)
QUESTION 7: EXCERPT FROM FATHERS OF NATIONS (15marks)
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow (15marks)
The door to the bathroom opened. Fiona emerged and started walking but
stopped. Her eyes had not adjusted to the darkness in the living room. "Where are you?" she asked.
"Over here" he said. "I have taken a couch in the living room. Go take the bed inthe bedroom."
"You're acting as if you might have a wife," she said, "Do you?" "No, she divorced me last year." "Did she?"
"Yes"
‘Lets see now. You studied in America at a marriageable age’
‘So let me guess.’Go ahead.””She is American."
"Who? Pamela?"e
"Yes, it is. And, yes, she is American. Enough about me now. Let's turn to you.
Shouldn't your name still be Fiona McKenzie?"
"Who told you it might have changed?" She started walking to the bedroom. Her
eyes had adjusted to the only light.
"Why was the Liberian Mauler calling you Joy instead?" "It's local slang for a
streetwalker."
"He was calling you a streetwalker?"
"Yes. Do you want me to draw a picture for you? Where are you from anyway?
Mars? "No: Nigeria.
Married?" "Me?"
The phone rang. He rose and answered the landline by the couch. When he ended
the call, his mood had darkened.
"What's the matter?" she asked him. "You seem upset all of a sudden. Who was on the phone?"
"One Chineke Chiamaka," he said. "The man was claiming that I chided him for being drunk, when all he had had was a "Pépsi." He wriggled in his improvised bed to protest his innocence against that claim. "It beats me how he got mysuite phone number in the first place," he added. "Anyway, I did not chide him.
Why do people like to tell lies?"
QUESTIONS
(a) Write:
i)Two things that happened just before the events described in this excerpt
(2mks
ii)Two things that happened immediately after the events described in this
excerpt(2mks
trait of Abiola and one character trait of Fiona McKenzie.
(4marks)
i)Abiola
ii)Fiona McKenzie
(c) (i) Why do people like to tell lies? (Rewrite in reported speech) (1 mark
(d) Identify and illustrate two features of style used in the excerpt. (4 marks)
(e) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt. (2marks)
i) darkened.-
ii) chided
Fathers of Nations Excerpt Questions and Answers-Set 2
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro KCSE Essay Questions and Answers
0754238886 for Answers
A Silent Song and Other Stories Essay Questions and Answers-Set 2
