LITERATURE OBJ :
1 - 10: EBACCAEECE
11- 20: EEADCADCDD
21-30: EEAEACECEB
31-40: ACADECBCAD
41-50: CECDADABBE
51-60: AAEBBEAEBC
21-30: EEAEACECEB
31-40: ACADECBCAD
41-50: CECDADABBE
51-60: AAEBBEAEBC
NOTE : YOU ARE TO ANSWER ONE FROM EACH SECTION
SECTION I : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
SECTION II : 5 , 6 , 7 , 8
(3 )
(i ) Widowhood or The plight of widows :
The theme of widowhood is the novel’ s central theme. The
widows in Lonely Days were subjected to pain and
humiliation .
The widowhood experiences of Yaremi , Dedewe , Fayoyin
and
Radeke are a miscrosm of the plight of widows in the larger
Nigerian society and in the African continent as a whole .
The
author condemns widow inheritance , forced remarriage and
other
cultural practices that subject widows to pain and
humiliation .
(6)
1)The Rat.
In the opening scene of the novel, Bigger has to deal with a
disgusting rat in his family’s one-room apartment:
“There he is!” the mother screamed again.
A huge black rat squealed and leaped at Bigger’s trouser-
leg and snagged it in his teeth, hanging on.
“Goddamn!” Bigger whispered fiercely, whirling and kicking
out his leg with all the strength of his body. The force of his
movement shook the rat loose and it sailed through the air
and struck a wall. Instantly, it rolled over and leaped again.
Bigger dodged and the rat landed against a table leg. With
clenched teeth, Bigger held the skillet; he was afraid to hurl
it, fearing that he might miss. The rat squeaked and turned
and ran in a narrow circle, looking for a place to hid; it
leaped again past Bigger and scurried on dry rasping feet to
one side of the box and then to the other, searching for the
hole. Then it turned and reared upon its hind legs. His
response is to throw a shoe at the rat and kill it:
2)
Snow
Snow starts falling after Bigger Kills Mary and burns her
body in the furnace. It continues to fall until he’s captured.
This could been seen as a symbol of white society
enveloping and overwhelming Bigger’s world.
Throughout the novel, Bigger thinks of whites not as
individuals, but as a looming white mountain or a great
natural force pressing down upon him. The blizzard is
raging as Bigger jumps from his window to escape after
Mary’s bones are found in the furnace. When he falls to the
ground, the snow fills his mouth, ears, and eyes—all his
senses are overwhelmed with a literal whiteness,
representing the metaphorical “whiteness” he feels has been
controlling him his whole life. Bigger tries to flee, but the
snow has sealed off all avenues of escape, allowing the
white police to surround and capture him.
3)
Mary’s Severed Head
After Bigger Kills Mary, the image of her severed head with
blood soaking her hair keeps returning to haunt him. As he
opens the furnace to see if her body has burned, it appears
to him as if the coals are shaped like her body.
The recurring image of Mary’s body and of her severed
head reminds him of his guilt, but they also remind him of
the fear and shame that led him to kill her accidentally in the
first place.
