Test your knowledge of Act 1 Scene II – Emergency Meeting from The Samaritan by John Lara. Includes 30 quickfire questions and detailed answers on setting, plot, characters, and themes.
🏛️ Scene Summary
In this scene, Mayor Mossi calls an emergency meeting to address damaging revelations published by newspapers and sourced from The Samaritan App.
The meeting exposes fear, corruption, and power struggles among Maracas municipal leaders as they desperately search for ways to silence the truth.
⚡ Quickfire Questions and Answers
Setting and Background
1. Where does the emergency meeting take place?
At the Mayor’s boardroom in Maracas Municipal Headquarters.
2. On what day and month is the meeting held?
On the morning of the second Monday of January the following year.
3. Who convenes the emergency meeting?
Mayor Mossi.
4. Name three leaders present at the meeting.
Mr. Harvester, Justice Ian Jaden, Inspector Bembe, Hon. Ted, Hon. Seymour, Hon. Ramdaye (any three).
5. What items does the mayor place in front of him when he arrives?
His three phones, walking stick, and big hat.
6. Why did the mayor call the emergency meeting?
To address damaging newspaper headlines that threatened the reputation of the municipal leaders.
7. What action did the mayor instruct Harvester to take early in the morning?
To buy all the newspapers from vendors before the public could read them.
8. Name two newspaper headlines that angered the mayor.
- The Caribbean Watch: “Municipal Leadership: A Criminal Enterprise”
- The Sentinel: “Municipal Leaders Stripped Naked”
(Also acceptable: The Insight: “Rot in Maracas Municipal Council Exposed” or The Spotlight: “Municipal Leaders Face Imprisonment.”)
9. According to the mayor, who or what was the real source of the damaging information?
The Samaritan App.
10. Who developed The Samaritan App?
A boy and a girl from Sagrada Secondary School.
11. What solution does Justice Jaden suggest to deal with journalists?
To give reporters boxes of chocolates to make them stop writing negative stories.
12. What does Inspector Bembe propose?
Threatening the journalists to silence them.
13. Why does Harvester say bribing the app users won’t work?
Because the app had already been downloaded over half a million times.
14. What kind of information was being shared on The Samaritan App?
Well-researched details exposing corruption, land grabbing, inflated tenders, and personal information about leaders.
15. Who are the first municipal leaders exposed on the app?
Hon. Ted and Hon. Seymour.
16. What fears does Ted express after being mentioned in the exposé?
He fears imprisonment at Baneta Express Prison.
17. What does Harvester suggest as the best solution to the crisis?
Restitution — leaders should confess, return stolen property, and start afresh.
18. Why do Ted and Seymour reject the idea of restitution?
They believe it would be an admission of guilt and create more problems.
19. What illegal solution does Seymour propose to raise money?
Reallocating money from the municipal fund to defend themselves.
20. Why does Mayor Mossi reject the idea of using municipal funds?
It is illegal to spend public money on unapproved purposes and would lead to misallocation charges.
21. Who tries to calm the heated argument in the meeting?
Hon. Ramdaye.
22. What insult does Mayor Mossi hurl at Ted and Seymour?
He calls them senseless thieves and jigger-infested hoodlums living like kings.
23. What do Ted and Seymour threaten to do to the mayor?
To mobilize other council members and remove him from office.
24. What final warning does Mayor Mossi give as the scene ends?
That they would soon know he is “the smoke that thunders.”
25. How does the scene end physically and emotionally?
Ted and Seymour storm out angrily while the mayor remains furious and defiant, signaling intense conflict
26. Mention two major themes highlighted in this scene.
Corruption and abuse of power; accountability and justice.
27. What does The Samaritan App symbolize in the play?
Transparency, truth, and the power of technology to expose corruption.
28. What moral lesson can be drawn from this meeting?
Corruption eventually leads to downfall, and truth cannot be silenced.
29. Which character represents honesty and integrity in this scene?
Justice Ian Jaden.
30. Which characters are portrayed as the most corrupt?
Hon. Ted and Hon. Seymour.