View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following movies does Kalu reenact?

2. What color is the truck the Husains own?

3. As what is Ahsa’s brother-in-law employed?

4. From whom is the quote that precedes Part One: "Undercitizens" taken?

5. In what police station are Abdul and Karam held?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Abdul think his heart is too small?

2. Why does Sunil scavenge on a ledge above a river?

3. What is the ghost house to which Zehrunisa refers?

4. What story does Abdul fabricate about being inside a hotel?

5. Why does Zehrunisa worry about her fifth son?

6. For what reasons do Abdul’s parents favor their selection of a wife for him?

7. For what reason do locals in the text favor improving the shacks where they live?

8. In what work does Abdul specialize?

9. Why does Abdul regard the improvements to his family home as unwise?

10. Why do people attend the meeting requested by Asha’s political supervisor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assuming that Behind the Beautiful Forevers should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Similarly, characters within the text repeatedly use the term “corruption.” Explicate the term’s various uses and overall meaning within the book.

Essay Topic 3

In the book, Abdul considers Fatima: “At the heart of her bad nature, like many bad natures, was probably envy. And at the heart of envy was possibly hope—that the good fortune of others might one day be hers” (88). Is Abdul’s assessment of Fatima accurate? What in the text demonstrates as much, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 561 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample