Quiz Masquerade O.O. Sangoyomi

Masquerade Book Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes

Test your knowledge of O.O. Sangoyomi's Masquerade with this 20-question quiz covering plot, character motivation, themes, and synthesis. Each question is drawn from the novel's key events and ideas. The complete answer key with explanations appears at the bottom. For deeper discussion, see the book overview, questions and answers, and ending explained.

Masquerade Book Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes

Plot & Sequence (Questions 1–8)

1. What event opens the novel?

  • A) A wedding celebration in Timbuktu

  • B) The execution of a Songhai general by Yoruba soldiers

  • C) A blacksmith strike in Ṣàngót

  • D) A slave revolt in the Gilded District

2. How does Òdòdó first meet Àrmọ?

  • A) He buys flowers from her in the market

  • B) He is a stranger who compliments her song and silver daffodil

  • C) He is introduced by her mother Okóbí

  • D) He captures her during a raid on her village

3. What happens to Òdòdó after she accepts a drink from a soldier in the market?

  • A) She is arrested for witchcraft

  • B) She is drugged and wakes in a palanquin to Ṣàngót

  • C) She escapes and returns home

  • D) She is sold to a salt mine

4. What test does Àrmọ subject Òdòdó to at the feast?

  • A) She must eat cowpeas hidden in yam, then face a storm trial

  • B) She must duel a general

  • C) She must recite the history of Ṣàngót

  • D) She must ride an elephant without help

5. Who attacks Òdòdó at the garden party?

  • A) General Ọmóṣẹwà

  • B) Captain Kiigba

  • C) Rótìmí

  • D) Kl

6. What does Òdòdó discover about Kl during the slave revolt?

  • A) Kl is a spy for the Portuguese

  • B) Kl betrays her and pushes her into a collapsing house

  • C) Kl is actually her long-lost sister

  • D) Kl dies saving her

7. How does Òdòdó escape the collapsed building after the revolt?

  • A) She is rescued by Àrmọ

  • B) She amputates her crushed hand with a machete

  • C) She tunnels through the rubble

  • D) She is pulled out by the twins

8. What does Òdòdó do to Àrmọ at the end of the novel?

  • A) She forgives him and becomes his second-in-command

  • B) She kills him with his dagger

  • C) She flees the royal city with Dígí

  • D) She poisons him and takes the crown

Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)

9. Why does Àrmọ arrange the cowpea test for Òdòdó?

  • A) To prove her innocence to the court and secure her place

  • B) To humiliate her in front of the nobles

  • C) To test her loyalty to her mother

  • D) To see if she is a witch

10. Why does Mama Aláàfin poison Òdòdó?

  • A) To kill her and free Àrmọ for a better match

  • B) To prevent her from bearing heirs and make her a forgotten wife

  • C) To punish her for the blacksmith strikes

  • D) To force her to leave the royal city

11. Why does Kl betray Òdòdó?

  • A) She is jealous of Òdòdó's relationship with Àrmọ

  • B) She is an Ahosi warrior sent by Ìyọ̀ to dethrone Àrmọ

  • C) She wants to become queen herself

  • D) She is under Mama Aláàfin's orders

12. Why does Okóbí urge Òdòdó to kill her?

  • A) She wants to die to escape her suffering

  • B) To prove Òdòdó's loyalty and save her from Àrmọ's suspicion

  • C) She believes Òdòdó is truly a witch

  • D) She is angry at Òdòdó for abandoning her

13. Why does Òdòdó ultimately kill Àrmọ?

  • A) He refuses to acknowledge her as an equal and treats her as property

  • B) He killed her mother

  • C) He plans to marry Kl

  • D) He orders her execution

Themes & Symbols (Questions 14–17)

14. What does the silver daffodil symbolize for Òdòdó?

  • A) Wealth and status

  • B) Endurance and survival

  • C) Love and marriage

  • D) Witchcraft and danger

15. What does the crown represent in the novel?

  • A) The merging of all Aláàfins into one ruler, masking individual identity

  • B) The power of the blacksmiths

  • C) The wealth of Yorùbáland

  • D) The bond between Àrmọ and Òdòdó

16. What is the significance of the cowpea in the trial?

  • A) It is a sacred test of divine approval

  • B) It is a common food that causes illness

  • C) It is a symbol of blacksmithing

  • D) It is a poison used by the court

17. What does the golden prosthetic hand represent?

  • A) The cost of survival and transformation

  • B) Àrmọ's love and generosity

  • C) The power of the Aláàfin

  • D) Òdòdó's return to blacksmithing

Synthesis (Questions 18–20)

18. How does Òdòdó's identity shift from blacksmith to queen, and what does that say about power?

(Short answer: 2–3 sentences)

19. Compare the ways Àrmọ and Mama Aláàfin use control over Òdòdó.

(Short answer: 2–3 sentences)

20. What role does the theme of masks and disguise play in the novel?

(Short answer: 2–3 sentences)

Answer Key

1. B — The novel opens with the execution of a Songhai general by Yoruba soldiers in Timbuktu, establishing the conquest and shifting power (Chapter 1).

2. B — Àrmọ approaches Òdòdó as a stranger while she crafts a silver daffodil, and she gives him the flower (Chapter 1).

3. B — The drink is drugged; she wakes in a palanquin traveling to Ṣàngót, where she is told she will marry the Aláàfin (Chapter 2).

4. A — Àrmọ hides cowpeas in her yam, then invokes Ṣàngó's judgment; no lightning strikes, signaling approval (Chapter 4).

5. B — Captain Kiigba attacks Òdòdó in the gardens; Rótìmí stabs him, and Àrmọ later executes him (Chapter 8).

6. B — Kl admits betrayal, punches Òdòdó, and jumps out a window as the house collapses on her (Chapter 16).

7. B — She amputates her crushed hand with a machete to free herself from the rubble (Chapter 17).

8. B — She kills him with his gilded dagger after he refuses her request to be second-in-command (Chapter 32).

9. A — The cowpea test is a ritual to prove her innocence and secure her place as his bride (Chapter 4).

10. B — Mama Aláàfin poisons her to prevent her from bearing heirs and to make her a forgotten wife (Chapter 29).

11. B — Kl reveals she is an Ahosi warrior impersonating the princess, sent by Ìyọ̀ to dethrone Àrmọ (Chapter 27).

12. B — Okóbí urges Òdòdó to kill her to prove Òdòdó's loyalty and save her from Àrmọ's suspicion (Chapter 25).

13. A — Àrmọ dismisses her as too beautiful for a man's job and refuses to acknowledge her contributions, leading her to kill him (Chapter 32).

14. B — The daffodil is a symbol of endurance, tied to Òdòdó's craft and survival (Chapter 1).

15. A — The crown merges all Aláàfins into one ruler, masking individual identity (Chapter 3).

16. A — The cowpea is a sacred test; eating it without divine punishment proves approval (Chapter 4).

17. A — The golden hand represents the cost of survival and her transformation, replacing what she lost (Chapter 21).

18. Òdòdó moves from a marginalized blacksmith to a queen, but each step requires sacrificing her past—her craft, her mother, and ultimately her humanity. Power, the novel suggests, demands the erasure of the self.

19. Both Àrmọ and Mama Aláàfin use gifts, surveillance, and manipulation to control Òdòdó—Àrmọ through romantic gestures and promises, Mama Aláàfin through poison and social exclusion—revealing that power operates through both love and fear.

20. Masks and disguise pervade the novel: Àrmọ's crown hides his face, Kl's false identity as a princess conceals her true mission, and Òdòdó herself performs the role of a compliant wife. These disguises question the stability of identity and the cost of survival in a world of shifting power.

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