This question is based on J.P Clark's The Wives Revolt. The highest measure women in the community can take to register their protest is

Analyze the question

The question is about J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt. It asks for the highest measure, meaning the most extreme step, that the women of Erhuwaren take to protest.

Explain the concept

In the play, the women of Erhuwaren rebel against the men's decision to give the men all of the proceeds from the oil-rich land and to leave the women with the less lucrative area. The women's revolt escalates in stages:

1. They refuse to cook for their husbands and withhold domestic duties.
2. They take over the men's tasks, such as the fishing and trading.
3. They go on strike, withdrawing sexual and domestic services.
4. They finally threaten the nude act, which in Urhobo and Niger Delta tradition is a very serious and culturally powerful form of protest. Women stripping naked in public is considered a curse and a great shame on the men.

Solution

• A. Prostitution is not part of the protest. The women remain devoted to their households.
• B. The nude act is a serious cultural measure, the last resort in the escalation.
• C. Abandoning their husbands is not the climax. They stay in the community and retain their marriages.
• D. Abandoning their children is not part of the play's conflict.

In the play, Okoro's wife Ma Jolly and the other women make clear that if their demands are ignored, they will resort to the nude act, the most extreme measure. This pushes the men to give in.

Answer: B. carry out the nude act

Tip

For African drama texts, think of the escalation pattern in the plot: mild protest, then strike, then the ultimate cultural weapon. In many West African traditions, female nudity as protest is the highest form of shaming and is used as a last resort. Remember: Wives' Revolt = from kitchen strike to the nude act.