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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 Rajaram want to do with his life after he moves?

2. How does Dina feel about the tailor's house hunting?

3. What part of his body does Ishvar injure falling into the ditch?

4. Who comes to cut Shankar's hair in Chapter 14?

5. Whose idea was it that all four characters eat dinner together in Chapter 10?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does it come to pass that the tailors begin eating dinner in the main house?

2. What do Om and Maneck do during their vacation from work?

3. How does Ibrahim react after Dina's apartment is destroyed?

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

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

6. What does Dina do around the house when the tailors are off searching for a house, and how does she react when they return?

7. What happens when Om begins to itch with lice?

8. What living conditions do the tailors see when they are returning home on their first night of freedom, and how does the Beggarmaster explain it?

9. How does Ishvar lose his legs?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Because of the imbalance of power seen within the novel, many characters end up being victims of one abuse or another.

Part 1.) Choose one character who is seen as a victim in the novel and explain the ways that they were abused by their surroundings and explain the ways that you have seen these abuses affect the characters progression in life. How deeply were they affected?

Part 2.) Explain the ways that this character will later go on to abuse others. How does this highlight the "Circle is Complete" theme within the novel? Or, if you do not believe that this character perpetuated any abuse, explain how you think this character broke the cycle?

Essay Topic 2

Rajaram is a strange character who exists simply by taking things from others. Give three examples of things that Rajaram has stolen from others, and what you think the items he chooses to steal say about him as a character. Then, weigh in on the transition that happens to Rajaram after he has returned from the Himalayas. Do you believe that his character has changed? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

When Om and Ishvar are sent to the work camp, they seem to go about their lives as though nothing has changed. Why do you think that the two men chose to accept their circumstances? Why do you think the two men chose not to fight back or attempt an escape? What support can you find in the text to explain for the tailors' apparent apathetic view of their lives, and how do their views compare/contrast to the other men in the camp?

(see the answer keys)

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