46 pages 1 hour read

Ben Okri

In the Shadow of War

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1983

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Exam Questions

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?

Related Titles

By Ben Okri