Study Questions and Suggested Essay Topics
Study Questions
As a foreigner living in Africa, do you think that the narrator supports the colonial system or does she criticize it?
The natives and the narrator belief in different judicial systems to arbitrate their disputes? What are these systems and how do they differ?
In real life, Denys Finch-Hatton and the narrator, Baroness Karen Blixen, were lovers. Do you think that their relationship is evident in Out of Africa?
Suggested Essay Topics
The narrator describes that she is "good friends" with the natives on her farm. Do you think that this perspective is accurate or not?
The narrator delineates between several different native groups in the area. Select three of these groups and describe where they come from and what traits distinguish them from one another?
The narrator describes the death of Kitosch and the subsequent trial of the white settler whose beating may have caused his death. How do you feel about the results of the settler's trial? Do you think justice was carried out or not, based upon the evidence? What do you think Dinesen believes?
The narrator suggests that the native people of Africa, because they did not live through the act of modernization as the Europeans did, are living on a different plane of history? What do you think of this proposal? Does it seem correct or not?
The narrator frequently discusses the animals of Africa in detail. What is the importance of these animals in relation to the author's vision of Africa?
Discuss the way that the narrator changes throughout the story.
