Introduction
Arrested development is a situation where the infrastructure is underdeveloped, the economy is stagnated /
stalled.
Can be contextualized / general
Body
(i) There is flexible transport. Passengers have to ride in private cars which charge exorbitant prices. Have to
wait for many hours to get a vehicle.
(ii) Dysfunctional/barely functioning filling stations. Vehicle owners have to get petrol off the black market. The
narrator stands at Mat’s garage, a barely functioning filling station.
(iii)Trading in contraband and illegal trade. This denies the country the much needed revenue from customs and
import duty.
- Gloria deals in cigarettes and is very rich despite having dropped out of high school
- The driver is a malayitshah i.e. carries people and things across the border.
- The black market is thriving business. The money that the young man at Gwanda lost is said to have been
able to earn him over twenty million dollars on the black market.
(iv) Rampant Corruption: - Officers have to be bribed to offer services. There is not a palm that cannot be
greased.
-The driver and Gloria talk of paying off border officials, highway police, farmers, magistrates, anyone and
everyone.
(v) Endless power cuts: This greatly affects the economy.
- While a friend of the narrator talks of her expensive imported hair piece always smelling like wood smoke
- There is a power blackout at Beit bridge when the narrator arrives; so she walks into the starry night
(vi) Extprtionism / Exploitation: Due to a collapsed economy, passengers have to pay crazy fares since they are
desperate to reach their destinations.
- The young man who boards the car at Givanda is conned off his hard earned dollars by unscrupulous money changers
(vii) Illegal Immigrations/brain drain
- People move from Zimbabwe to South Africa in search of better employment opportunities
- Thos with passports have to pay a couple of hundred rands while those without have to part with a couple of
thousands.
- The country loses personnel and revenue as a result
marto answered the question on May 23, 2019 at 11:51
-
The Caucasian Chalk Circle: Literary Appreciation
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow
(Solved)
The Caucasian Chalk Circle: Literary Appreciation
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow
GRUSHA : Simon!
SIMON : Is that Grusha Vasnadze?
GRUSHA : Simon!
SIMON (formally): A good morning to the young lady. I hope she is well.
GRUSHA (getting up and bowing low): A good morning to the soldier. God be thanked he has returned in good
health.
SIMON : They found better fish, so they didn’t eat me said the haddock
GRUSHA : Courage, said the kitchen boy. Good luck, said the hero
SIMON : How are things here? Was the winter bearable? The neighbor considerate?
GRUSHA : The winter was a trifle rough, the neighbor as usual Simon.
SIMON : May one ask if a certain person still dips her toes in the water when rinsing the linen?
GRUSHA : The answer is no. Because of the eyes in the bushes.
SIMON : The young lady is speaking of soldiers. Here stands the paymaster
GRUSHA : A job worth twenty piasters?
SIMON : And lodgings?
GRUSHA (with tears in her eyes) : Behind the barracks under the date trees
SIMON : Yes there. A certain person has kept her eyes open
GRUSHA : She has, Simon.
SIMON : And has not forgotten? (GRUSHA shakes her head) So the door is still on its hinges as they
say? (GRUSHA looks at him in silence and shakes her head again) What’s this? Is anything
not as it should be?
GRUSHA : Simon Shashava, I can never return to Nuka. Something has happened.
SIMON : What can have happened?
GRUSHA : For one thing, I knocked an Ironshirt down
GRUSHA : Simon Shashava, I am no longer called what I used to be called
SIMON (after a pause):I do not understand
GRUSHA : When do women change their names, Simon? Let me explain.
Nothing stands between us. Everything is just as it was. You must believe that.
SIMON : Nothing stands between us and yet there is something?
GRUSHA : How can I explain it so fast and with the stream between us?
Couldn’t you cross the bridge there?
SIMON : Maybe it’s no longer necessary
GRUSHA : It is very necessary. Come over on this side, Simon. Quick!
SIMON : Does the young lady wish to say someone has come too late?
a) Place this excerpt in its immediate context
b) Where is this scene taking place .
c) Discuss the relationship between Grusha and Simon in this excerpt.
d) 'May one ask if a certain person still dips her toes in the water when rinsing the linen?' In which other scene does
Simon use the very words to Grusha? Explain what was happening in that scene .
e) Grusha says she cannot go to Nuka because something has happened. Explain. .
f) Describe the character trait of Simon as brought out in this excerpt .
g) Explain the meaning of the following saying and word as used in the excerpt
i) They found better fish, so they didn’t eat me, said the haddock.
ii) Gaily
h) Identity and illustrate the major theme present in this excerpt
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Read the poem bellow and answer the question that follows
My grandmother
(Solved)
She kept an antique shop-or it kept her.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glasses,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture,
She watched her own reflection in the brass
Salvers and silver bowls, as if to prove
Polish was all, there was no need for love.
And I remember how I once refused
To go out with her, since I was afraid.
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
Like antique objects .Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.
Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put
All her best things in one long, narrow room.
The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut,
The smell of absences where shadows come
That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
To give her own reflection back again.
And when she died I felt no grief at all,
Only the guilt of what I once refused.
I walked into her room among the tall
Sideboards and cupboards-things she never used
But needed: and no finger-marks were there,
Only the new dust falling through the air.
a) Identify the persona in the above poem.
b) In note form, summarize what each stanza is talking about
c) Identify and briefly explain the use of any two images in the poem
d) What does the persona feel towards the subject matter?
e) What do the following lines mean in the poem?
'too frail to keep a shop'
'Only the new dust falling through the air'
f) Describe the tone the persona uses in the poem above
g) Explain the paradox in the line:
-things she never used
But needed:
h) Explain the persona’s sense of guilt
Date posted:
May 6, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
SECOND OLYMPUS
(Solved)
SECOND OLYMPUS
From the rostrum they declaimed
On martyrs and men of high ideals
Whom they sent out
Benevorent despots to an unwilling race
Straining at the yoke
Bull dozers trampling on virgin ground
In blatant violation
They trampled down all that was strange
And filled the void
With half digested alien thoughts
They left a trail of red
Whatever their feet had passed
Oh, they did themselves fine
And struttled about the place
Self proclaimed demi- gods
From a counterfeit Olympus
One day they hurled down thunder bolts
On toiling race of earthworms
They might have rained own pebbles
To pelt the brats to death
But that was beneath them
They kept up the illusion
That they were fighting foes
Killing in the name of high ideals
At the inquest they told the world
The worms were becoming pests
Moreover, they said
They did not like wriggly things
Strange prejudice for gods.
Questions
1) Who is being talked about in this poem? Give evidence.
2) With two evidences, discuss the poet’s general attitude towards the subject of the poem.
3) What do you understand by the following three lines?
'they trample down all that was strange
And filled the void with half digested alien thoughts?'
4) Who are referred to as 'toiling race of earthworms' and why
5) Discuss two stylistic devices used in the poem. Give their effectiveness
6) Explain the significance of the title.
7) What is the tone of the poem?
Date posted:
May 6, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
The inmates
(Solved)
The inmates
Huddled together
Cold biting their bones
Teeth chattering from the chill,
The air oppressive,
The smell offensive
They sit and they reflect
The room self contained
At the corner the ‘gents’ invites
With the nice fragrance of ammonia,
And fresh human dung,
The fresh inmates sit thoughtfully
Vermin perform a guard of honour
Saluting him with a bite here
And a bite there
‘Welcome to the world, they seem to say’
The steel lock of the door
The walls insurmountable
And the one torching tortuous bulb
Stare vacantly at him
Slowly he reflects about the consignment
That gave birth to his confinement
Locked in for conduct refinement
The reason they put him in prison
The clock ticks
But too slowly
Five years will be a long time
Doomed in the dungeon
In this hell of a cell
a) Who is the persona in the poem? (1 mark)
b) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (2 marks)
c) Identify and illustrate three aspects of style in the poem. (6 marks)
d) Give evidence from the poem which indicates the inmates are suffering. (3 marks)
e) Why is the fresh inmate in prison? (2 marks)
f) Identify and explain the mood of the new convict. (2 marks)
g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
i) That gave birth to his confinement (1 mark)
ii) The room is self contained (1 mark)
h) What does the steel lock in the door and the insurmountable walls suggest? (2 marks)
Date posted:
May 3, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow: Song of agony
(Solved)
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
Song of Agony
I put on a clean shirt
And go to work
Which of us
Which of us will come back?
Four and twenty moons
Not seeing women
Not seeing my hand
Which of us
Which of us will die?
I put on a clean shirt
And go to work my contract
To work far away
I go beyond the mountain
Into the bush
Where the roads end
And the rivers run dry
Which of us
Which of us will come back?
Which of us
Which of us will die?
Questions
a) Who is the persona in the poem? Explain. (2 marks)
b) Briefly discuss the subject matter in this poem. (3 marks)
c) Identify two stylistic devices in the poem and show their effectiveness. (4 marks)
d) Show how the persona and the others suffer in the poem. Illustrate your answer. (4 marks)
e) What is the dominant mood in the poem? (2 marks)
f) Is the title of this poem suitable? Explain (3 marks)
g)Identify and explain one economic activity practiced by the persona’s community
Date posted:
May 3, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Explain the theme of tradition in the novel The River Between by Ngùgí wa Thiong'o
(Solved)
Explain the theme of tradition in the novel The River Between by Ngùgí wa Thiong'o
Date posted:
April 28, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Identify some themes based on some oral narratives
(Solved)
Identify some themes based on some oral narratives
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Describe some moral lessons derived from oral narratives appropriately.
(Solved)
Describe some moral lessons derived from oral narratives appropriately.
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
State the importance of a song during narration
(Solved)
State the importance of a song during narration
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Identify some social/ socio-cultural, socio-economic and economic activities evident in some narratives.
(Solved)
Identify some social/ socio-cultural, socio-economic and economic activities evident in some narratives.
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
State 5 ways of beginning a story in order to attract the attention of the audience
(Solved)
State 5 ways of beginning a story in order to attract the attention of the audience
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
State and explain 4 classification of proverbs
(Solved)
State and explain 4 classification of proverbs
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Define the term translation and transcription in orature
(Solved)
Define the term translation and transcription in orature
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Identify the things lost when a tongue-twister is translated
(Solved)
Identify the things lost when a tongue-twister is translated
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
List the key aspects of plot commonly evident in narratives
(Solved)
List the key aspects of plot commonly evident in narratives
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Highlight the key features of short forms; proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, puns and jokes:
(Solved)
Highlight the key features of short forms; proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, puns and jokes:
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Similarities between tongue twisters and proverbs.
(Solved)
Similarities between tongue twisters and proverbs.
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
State the main features of panegyric (praise) songs:
(Solved)
State the main features of panegyric (praise) songs:
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Compare and contrast myths and legends
(Solved)
Compare and contrast myths and legends
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)
-
Highlight typical, key and specific features and functions of every type of song:
a)Love songs
b)Wedding songs
c)War songs
d)Sacred songs
e)Work songs
f)Initiation/ Circumcision songs
g)Dirges/ Funeral songs
h)Lullabies
i)Singing games
(Solved)
Highlight typical, key and specific features and functions of every type of song:
a)Love songs
b)Wedding songs
c)War songs
d)Sacred songs
e)Work songs
f)Initiation/ Circumcision songs
g)Dirges/ Funeral songs
h)Lullabies
i)Singing games
Date posted:
April 23, 2019
.
Answers (1)