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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 is Emily reading, that Isaac recommended?

2. What does Isaac call Amir in response to his insult in Scene Three?

3. What is the title Emily has taken from the book Isaac recommended?

4. Who calls Amir just as Emily is trying to defuse a tense conversation about racial profiling in Scene Three?

5. In Scene Three, what does Amir say Steven was trying to ascertain?

Short Essay Questions

1. What political position has Abe taken, as a result of the events that brought him back to Amir?

2. What has happened in the intervening time between Scenes 3 and 4?

3. How does Emily compare the Renaissance in the West and Islamic culture?

4. What grounds has Akhtar left the audience, by the end of the play, for feeling that there is a path to virtue and integrity?

5. What does Amir tell Emily he wants for her, at the end, and what is Emily’s response?

6. What is it that brings Abe and Emily back to Amir’s apartment?

7. What accusation does Abe level at Amir before he leaves in Scene 4?

8. What historical circumstance complicates the question of Amir’s nationality?

9. What caused Amir to change his name?

10. What causes Isaac to tell Emily that she will make the “mistake in London” again?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Disgraced is a play that assumes a huge amount of back story and cultural awareness. What are the main historical/cultural narratives Akhtar refers to, and how does he make them personal to the characters? Are these characters proxies for a cultural battle? Are they victims of a larger battle between people’s cultural assumptions? Does anyone achieve any freedom from those assumptions, in the end?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the important of Velázquez’ Portrait of Juan de Pareja n Disgraced. Why is this painting so important? How does its importance differ between characters? How does Amir’s sense of the painting change over the course of the play?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of Disgraced—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the play to describe yourself as a reader.

(see the answer keys)

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