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Traditions refer to a way of life of a particular group of people.It involves believes,practices and norms that a particular society or group associates to.The novel Blossoms of the Savannah brings out a number of traditions that the Maasai community,the community where it is set.
Marriage is one of the cherished traditions in this community.It is expected that when a man becomes of age he should choose a woman to marry.This is the case with Ole Kaelo's who went to betroth his wife Jane Milanoi after he saw her and fell in love with her.Mama Milanoi is excited about going back to the village since it will be easy to marry off her daughters in the new town than in Nakuru. Marriage is so much valued in the society to the extend that sometimes men are forced to book girls for marriage even before they are born.Many of the men are polygamous.
Female circumcision is another traditionn that is valued in this community.It is the tradition around which the story revolves.Too much value is attached to this tradition that a man cannot marry a girl who has not been circumcised.She remembers how the women who had visited her from Nasila had described the status of their daughters as intoiye nemengalana which contemptuously meant an uncircumcised girl.The man who accosted Taiyo and Resian sneers at them.
The seriousness of this tradition comes out when Resian is almost forcefully taken through it to prepare her as a wife of Olarinkoi. Olarinkoi's mother had already brought the enkamuratani but Resian escapes just in the nick of time.As they were hurrying away with nubaru,she noticed Olarinkoi,his motherland an old woman who Nburu said was the enkamuratani approaching.Even when Oloisudori was claiming her from her father he had insisted that she had to undergo the cut first so as to rid her of her intoiye nemelangalana status.Unlike her sister Resian who escapes,Taiyo unfortunately is forcefully circumcised.She remembers the whole traumatizing occurrence,that removed her from among the detested intoiye nemelangalana.
This practice has seen the rise of campaigners such as Minik ene Nkoitoi,the Emakererei,who fight against it.She is so much hated by the elders of Nasila to the extent that they label her wasp Resian and Taiyo also join her camp where five hundred other girls have been rescued.Their campaign is for girls not to be circumcised but to be proud of being intoiye nemengalana.
Clan-ism is another tradition that forms part of of this society.They strongly believe that members of the same clan are like brothers .This comes out well during Ole Kaelo's homecoming ceremony where members of the Iloorasha clan and most specifically those from Iloorasha sub clan,to which Ole Kaelo also belonged,felt that the success of the ceremony rested on their shoulders.Thus they outdid themselves,led by Joseph Parmuat,to ensure its success.This brotherhood best comes out when Taiyo and Joseph are warned against any sexual relationship since though they are not related by blood they are a brother and sister following their clan ties. Simiren explains to Mama Milanoi why it would be great abomination for Taiyo and Joseph to have any illicit contact.
The people in this society believe in some superstitions.When Resian argues with her mother and aunt,Yeiyoo bottor,her aunt explains to her mother that Resian must be suffering from Olkuenyi,a bad spirit which must be be as a result of her uncircumcised nature.The belief was that spilling blood through circumcision helped purge away the ill spirit.Mama Milanoi knew how serious the issues of ollkuenyi was in this society such that they believed it was contagious and thus whoever believed to have it was shunned like a plague.Similarly,when Resian has a premonition that all was not well,she noticed cooing of a bird which Parmuat had explained to them that it was always a harbinger of bad news.
marto answered the question on April 18, 2018 at 08:41
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Old man, left:(suspiciously)Is this us?
Old man,right:(amid laughter):How could it be a way of influencing you,Surab,you the valley thief?Everyone knows you will take the cheese and the valley too.(laughter.)All i expected from you is an honest answer.Do you like the cheese.
Old man.left:The answer is yes.
Old man,right:Really.(Bitterly)I might have known you knew nothing ab out cheese.
Old man,left:Why?when I tell you I like it?
Old man,right:Because you cant like it.Because our goats don't like the new grass.The grazing land over there is no good,whatever the young folks say.You can't live there.It doesn't even smell of morning in the morning.(several people laugh)Please put that in your report.
Delegate:Don't mind them;they got your point .After all,why does a man love his country?Because the bread tastes better there,there,the air smells better.Voices sound stronger ,the sky is higher ,the ground is easier to walk on. Isn't that so?
Old man,right:The valley belongs to us by law.
Girl Tractorist;In any case,the laws must be re examined to see if they they are still right.
Old man,right:That goes without saying.But doesn't it make a difference what kind of neighbors you have ?We want to come back just to have you as our neighbors,valley thieves!you can all laugh again.
Old man,left:(laughing):Then why don't you listen to what your neighbor,Kato Vatchang,our agriculturalist,has to say about the valley.
Peasant Woman,right:comrade specialist,we're not horse trading.I can't take your cap, hand you another and say this one's better.It may be better ,but you prefer your own.
Girl tractorist:A piece of land is not a cap-not in our country,comrade.
Delegate: Don't get angry.Its true a piece of land.In any event,what we need to know is exactly what you people would do with the valley if you had it.(To those on the left)
Others :Yes ,let Kato speak.
Adapted from the Caucasian chalk circle.
Questions
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b)In your own words state what the OLD MAN to the right's argument is.(3 marks)
c)What does the OLD MAN to the right imply by,"Everyone knows you will take the cheese and the valley,too"?(2 marks)
d)According to the soldier to the left,not so long ago,people didn't have ................freedom.(Fill in the blank space with the most appropriate words.) 1 mark
e)Basing your answer on what transpires in this excerpt,describe the character and role of delegates.(4 marks)
f)What is the theme of this excerpt?(2 marks)
g)Describe the mood of the gathering.(2 marks0
h)What is the significance of this meeting in relation to the message of the play?(2 marks)
i)"I can't take your cap,hand you another,and say,this ones's better (1 mark)
j)Outline Kato's points that comes immediately after this excerpt (3 marks)
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- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:
BEGGAR IN THREE PIECE
My jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
To distant lands
Across blue seas.
I descended the...(Solved)
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:
BEGGAR IN THREE PIECE
My jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
To distant lands
Across blue seas.
I descended the ladder
To a waiting ribbon
Of blood-red carpet
A quick glance at my
Three piece suit
And the tie
That beautifully strangled my neck.
On my left hand hang
My beaded knobkerrie
On my right clutched
My rusty inter-Nation begging Bowl
On my face I wore humility and need
And of course dignity.
Sir, the dearth of food
Has rendered by people thin
And hungry
Scoop us a little
You know,
Just a little,
To keep them till next rains’
‘But Sir, beggars
In three piece
Are a rare sight
But your suit is beautiful
- Honestly
Now my suit
Which cost me a fortune
In a Parisian Textile
Has denied me a fortune
And my countrymen, lie.
L.O. Sunkuli
Questions
a) Who is the persona in this poem?
b) What is the subject matter of this poem?
c) Explain the satire in this poem and comment on its effectiveness.
d) Describe the tone of the poem.
e) Explain what the last stanza implies.
f) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
i) My Jumbo
Shots its way
Across the sky
ii) That beautifully strangled my neck.
iii) To keep them till next rains.
Date posted: March 16, 2018. Answers (1)
- COMPREHENSION
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
A boy learns from his father without even realizing that he is learning. He...(Solved)
COMPREHENSION
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
A boy learns from his father without even realizing that he is learning. He associates with his father’s masculinity and learns what it entails.
Children are always making decisions. They watch what happens around them and decide what to do to find belonging and connection. They do not automatically mimic the behavior and values of their parents as they are thinking and feeling people who decide for themselves what works.
A father’s role in raising children has changed dramatically with modernization of the society. In past generations, sons were groomed to follow their father’s footsteps, apprenticing at work and adopting their outlook to life.
Nowadays, fathers go out to work wherever their skills take them or where work can be found. Many boys grow up yearning for the closeness with their fathers.
The father is someone who comes to eat, sometimes looks over homework, hears about the son’s infractions of the day and watches television then goes to bed.
Parenting has become a mother’s business while father is out there eking a living. Research shows that fathers are an integral part of their son’s healthy emotional, physical and cognitive growth.
Boys whose fathers love them can demonstrate that love in consistent caring ways, have fewer problems later in life with their peers or in their studies and do not display delinquent behavior.
But teaching a young man how to become a man involves more than just being there. It is a conscious process of mentoring, training and connection that creates a desire for a boy to become the kind of a man we hope he will become.
Many factors come into play, especially in the boy’s formative stage. Recently, I was speaking to a gentleman who in retrospect ascribes his violent behavior to anger brought about by the ill treatment of his mother by his father.
One of the most important influences a father can have on his son is largely through the quality of relationship with the mother. A father who relates well with the mother of his children is more likely to have sons who are psychologically and emotionally healthier. Fathers who treat the mother of their sons with respect and deal with any conflict within the relationship in an appropriate manner are more likely to have boys who understand how women should be treated. They are less likely to be aggressive towards women.
Children with involved, caring fathers have better education outcomes. Fathers often push for achievement, while mothers stress on the boy’s well-being, both of which are important for healthy development.
A study of children of school-going age found that boys with involved fathers have fewer social behaviour problems and are likely to have good emotional health, to be high achievers and avoid drug use, violence and delinquent behavior.
(Adapted from the Standard Sunday Magazine 29th June, 2014)
a) Mention any two things that show that a father’s presence is important in a boy’s life.
b) How does a boy learn from his father?
c) How do children find belonging and connection?
d) Make notes on the ways in which a father can positively influence his son.
e) Many factors come to play (Supply a question tag)
f) Nowadays many fathers go to work wherever their skills take them.
(Rewrite in the present perfect continuous tense)
g) What does teaching a young man involve?
h) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
1) Mimic
2) Masculinity
3) Groomed
4) Retrospect
i) Supply a suitable title for the passage.
Date posted: March 16, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the extract below then answer the questions that follow.
“Father! Mother! Come quickly! Tony is dying! He burst into their room throwing his manners...(Solved)
Read the extract below then answer the questions that follow.
“Father! Mother! Come quickly! Tony is dying! He burst into their room throwing his manners completely to the wind. Elizabeth was already on her way across the room. Like all mothers she slept without sleeping and Tony’s screams had brought her to consciousness and to her feet before Aoro started out of the room. Mark struggled to wake up and saw his wife streaking out of the room.
“What the heck is going on?” He asked the empty room. There was of course no answer, but the panicked sounds in the boys’ room were enough to direct him.
Tony was writhing on the floor; clearly the boy was very sick. Mark rushed to the neighbours to ask for transport. Those were the days before people learned to barricade themselves behind their doors for fear of thugs masquerading as people in distress. The neighbour who owned a VW rushed the sick boy who held on his mother’s lap in the front seat with his father in the back, to the general hospital.
Doctors who stare death in the face on daily basis are never in as much a hurry as relatives would like them to be, but eventually the boy was seen and a diagnosis of acute appendicitis was made. He was scheduled for an emergency operation, but since there was one apparently more serious case before him, it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that they took him to the theatre, where an ugly inflamed appendix was incised and removed.
Back at home, Aoro was climbing walls with fear and worry. His sisters with the death like slumber of the young had managed to sleep throughout the whole commotion. At dawn he decided enough was enough so he went to their room and shook them awake.
“What is it?” She asked alarmed.
“Tony is sick. He was rushed to hospital at night and they haven’t come back.” He could not add the unspeakable – the fear that his brother was dying or dead.
“Why didn’t you wake us up you idiot?” Asked Vera annoyed such a thing could have happened without her knowing it; so she took it out on her brother. Becky continued to lie in her bed. Few things bored her as much as sickness, suffering and death. She simply could not identify with them. At sixteen she was a breathtaking beauty and had a horde of admirers and aspiring boyfriends none of whom she had yet shown interest in. She did not believe in wasting time. Besides, her sister was always with her and she knew her parents would not take kindly to such goings on. She stretched luxuriously in bed, enjoying the feel of her young lithe body. Aoro, tired of being called names retired back to his room. Vera looked questioningly at her sister, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. She was beginning to have doubts about the young lady.
Questions
a) What had happened shortly before the excerpt?
b) Father! Mother! Come quickly! Tony is dying. (Rewrite in reported speech)
c) How does Tony’s sickness and treatment affect Aoro’s future life?
d) Contrast the characters of Becky and Vera according to their reaction towards their brother’s sickness.
e) Why had Becky not shown interest in any of her boyfriend?
f) Identify and illustrate any evident theme in the extract.
g) What in the extract shows that Elizabeth is a caring mother?
h) Identify and illustrate any evident style in the extract.
i) Give any two phrasal verbs used in the extract.
j) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the extract.
1) Writhing
2) Masquerading
3) Appendicitis
4) Incised
5) Commotion
Date posted: March 16, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
Follower
My father worked with a horse plough
His shoulders globed like a full...(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
Follower
My father worked with a horse plough
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock
The sod rolled heading, with single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake
Fell sometimes on the polished sod
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up a plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm,
All I did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
Questions
a) Describe what the poem is about.
b) What is the persona’s attitude towards his father?
c) Identify and illustrate any two literary devices used.
d) What is the mood of the poem?
e) Describe two character traits of the father.
f) What is the irony in the last stanza?
g) Which word can replace ‘yapping’?
h) Identify the two different aspects of the title ‘follower’.
Date posted: March 16, 2018. Answers (1)