Get premium membership and access revision papers with marking schemes, video lessons and live classes.
  OR
Processing. Please wait.

 Sample Blossoms of The Savannah Excerpts With Questions and Answers

Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow.
Yes, that is how Oloisudori defined success, Ole Kaelo thought bitterly. And he and many others define it in the same way. The archaic adage that exhorted the young and up-coming businessmen to take care of cents and let the shillings take care of themselves was regarded by the likes of Oloisudori to be untenable.
Instant riches, just as instant tea or instant coffee were the thing. And the instantaneous bliss brought in an on-the-spot feeling of well-being, felicity and happiness. That was what everyone wanted, Ole Kaelo reasoned, and that was what he himself had always wanted. And that was the reason, like a stinking rotten carcass would draw a torrent of flies to itself, people like him and many others got drawn to the murky business of Oloisudori. "But now the chickens had come home to roost," Ole Kaelo lamented ruefully. Oloisudori was now demanding his pound of flesh. He recalled the events of that afternoon when...

 (10m 20s)
3220 Views     SHARE

Answer Text:
a) What is the small matter Oloisudori wishes to discuss?
The small matter is that he wants Ole Kaelo to give him his daughter Resian to Marry.

b) How does the small matter affect the Ole Kaelo family?
It affects the Kaelos in that Ole Kaelo and Mama Milanoi are disturbed by Oloisudori’s demand to marry Resian knowing well who their daughter is. This makes them have a sleepless night. Later, Resian refuses and runs away from home causing their separation.

c) How does Oloisudori come into the lives of the Ole Kaelos?
Oloisudori is Ole Kaelo’s business partner. He is the one who has helped Ole Kaelo to secure the stock in his shop and also the funds for building his new house.

d) Discuss the characters of the following:
i. Oloisudori
ii. Ole Kaelo
i) Oloisudori is manipulative. He manipulates Ole Kaelo because he knows that the success of his shop depended entirely on the contracts he offered him. That’s why he
manipulates him to submit to his demands.
ii) Ole Kaelo is contemplative. He contemplates that even though Oloisudori says they have something small to discuss, but he was now demanding his pound of flesh.


e) Explain a theme implied in the extract.
Theme of greed. Ole kaelo talks of instant riches, just as instant tea or instant coffee were the thing. And the instantaneous bliss brought in an on-the-spot feeling of well-being, felicity and happiness.

f) Give the meanings of the following:
i. archaic
ii. pound of flesh
iii. niceties
i) Old fassion
ii) A payment or penalty exacted to fulfill a deal.
iii) A detail /small difference that is only obvious after careful thought.


|