This question is based on Bayo Adebowale's Lonely Days. The cap-picking ceremony is to

Analyzing the question: This is about Lonely Days by Bayo Adebowale. It asks about the purpose of the cap-picking ceremony, which comes after the death of Yaremi's husband, Ajumobi.

Concept (Yoruba widowhood custom): In the novel, after Ajumobi dies, Yaremi is subjected to traditional widowhood rites. Part of the custom is the cap-picking ceremony. The late husband's cap is placed among the caps of other men (usually the suitors or men of the family), and the widow must pick one. The man whose cap she picks becomes her new husband, usually from within the late husband's family. This is a form of the levirate-style custom of widow inheritance.

Step-by-step reasoning:

1. Ajumobi dies, leaving Yaremi a widow.
2. The family and community expect her to remarry within the family circle.
3. The cap-picking ceremony is the formal means of choosing her new husband.
4. Yaremi resists the pressure, and the ceremony becomes a point of conflict. Even so, its purpose within the custom is to make her remarry.

Checking the options:

• A. Breaking her will is a consequence the family might hope for, but it is not the ceremony's purpose.
• B. Making Yaremi remarry matches the purpose of the ritual exactly.
• C. Nothing in the ritual aims to show she is wicked.
• D. The ritual has nothing to do with judging whether Ajumobi was the best.

**Answer: B. make Yaremi remarry.

Exam tip: For literature questions on customs, ask what the ritual is meant to do in the culture rather than how the characters react to it. Yaremi's refusal shows her strength, but the ceremony itself exists to arrange remarriage.