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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dina begin to sew in Chapter 9 with help from Maneck?

2. How many years does Maneck claim that he wants to spend in school?

3. How does Dina react to Maneck's return?

4. What game does Maneck attempt to teach Om during their vacation?

5. How many perspective wives are found for Om back in the village?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the Beggarmaster know that he is related to Shankar?

2. Why does Rajaram want to move to the Himalayas?

3. Why does Dina lose her apartment?

4. What happens when the Beggarmaster comes to visit the relocation camp in Chapter 9?

5. What happens when the debt collector visits Dina?

6. What happens to Rajaram that prompts him to leave his job at the government?

7. Why does the Beggarmaster leave Shankar on the streets even after it is revealed that they are brothers?

8. How is the Beggarmaster killed?

9. Why are the police called to Shankar's funeral?

10. How do the established workers at the relocation camp treat the newcomers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dina Dalal is described as a very tough woman. There have been many mishaps in her life that have shaped her. Describe two incidents in Dina's life that have shaped her into the independent woman that she is. Also, compare/contrast Dina's relationships with her brother Nusswan and Rustom. Which relationship do you think had a larger impact on her?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the entire novel, Ishvar is obsessed with finding a wife for Om. Marriage is seen as a positive addition to families even when the family doesn't have the financial means to support another person.

Part 1.) Compare/Contrast the marriage between Dina and Rustom to the one between Nusswan and Ruby. What is the same about these marriages and what is different?

Part 2.) Explain why you think Ishvar's expectations for Om's wife and marriage are reasonable. How will Om's impending marriage affect the lives of everyone living in Dina's home?

Essay Topic 3

The government within this novel is presented as entirely false. A very telling scene of the novel came when the Prime Minister gave her speech to the slum residents. How was that speech presented to the public, and how was it received? How does the government work to present a particular image of themselves to the people? Is this image a fair representation? Or is the government attempting to fool its people? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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