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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. How did the Sultan of Bijapur die?

2. What is Jahanara thinking of when Nizam opens a cotton bag for a snack?

3. What message does Jahanara want her granddaughters to take from her story?

4. Who does Arjumand marry?

5. When Nizam and Jahanara come across a battlefield with rotting corpses, who are most of the dead?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jahanara feel as if Allah has abandoned her?

2. What does Aurangzeb do when a cobra without fangs is placed in his bed?

3. What illness does Shah Jahan catch during monsoon season?

4. How is Jahanara discovered and imprisoned again?

5. What is the difference between Nizam and Isa from other men?

6. Why doesn't Jahanara envy her granddaughters for their youth?

7. As the days of her imprisonment pass, how does Jahanara change?

8. Why doesn't Jahanara wipe the blood from her face when Aurangzeb backhands her?

9. Why does Jahanara tell her granddaughters she didn't allow Aurangzeb to die?

10. Why, as Jahanara's daughter grows older, does Jahanara spend fewer nights with Isa?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jahanara chooses duty rather than escape the Empire with Isa and her daughter. Discuss duty and how duty is viewed in the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Jahanara requests mercy for a boy about to be executed and angers Aurangzeb. Discuss Aurangzeb's reaction to Jahanara's interference during the execution and how she escapes his revenge for the incident.

Essay Topic 3

Various characters have theories for why Aurangzeb is so cruel. Discuss why Aurangzeb is so cruel and what has made him that way.

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