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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Zin and Jawad wear when they went to the movies?
(a) Caftans.
(b) Khakis and polo shirts.
(c) Red bow ties.
(d) Jeans and t-shirts.

2. How did Mernissi get hurt the first time she tried to escape the harem?
(a) Scraped her knees.
(b) Sprained her ankle.
(c) Broke her arm.
(d) Cut her hand.

3. What was unusual about the bracelets Tamou wore the day she arrived at the farm?
(a) They made a beautiful musical sound.
(b) They had points sticking out of them.
(c) They were solid gold.
(d) There were so many she could not lift her arm.

4. Who was in charge of finding music on the radio in the women's harem?
(a) Fatima.
(b) Chama.
(c) Fatima's mother.
(d) Aunt Habiba.

5. What day did Mernissi and her cousin visit Aunt Habiba?
(a) Mondays.
(b) Saturdays.
(c) Wednesdays.
(d) Fridays.

6. What book did Mernissi's mother request that her husband read to her?
(a) Pride and Prejudice.
(b) A Thousand and One Nights.
(c) The Liberation of Women.
(d) Egyptian Political History.

7. What floor of Mernissi's family's house did Aunt Habiba live on?
(a) Basement.
(b) Third.
(c) Second.
(d) First.

8. What was the "djellaba" that Mernissi's mother wanted to wear?
(a) Dress styled on western fashions.
(b) Men's coat that allowed for freedom of walking.
(c) Pants that the nationalists' wives wore.
(d) Caftan.

9. Why did Aunt Habiba have to live in Mernissi's father's household?
(a) She was widowed.
(b) She and her husband had lost her home during the war.
(c) Her husband was a relative.
(d) She was divorced.

10. Why did Mernissi cover her hair with her mother's scarf at the public baths?
(a) So she could look glamorous.
(b) To hide from Hitler.
(c) Because her mother told her to.
(d) She wanted to see what wearing a veil was like.

11. Who told Mernissi that she should never accept inequality because it was not logical?
(a) Grandfather Tazi.
(b) Yasmina.
(c) Her mother.
(d) Her father.

12. Who helped Mernissi get permission to go to the movies as a child?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Samir.
(c) Chama.
(d) Her father.

13. What did Mernissi's mother say she wanted for her daughters when they were older?
(a) To live in a happy harem.
(b) To know how to cook.
(c) Exciting, happy lives.
(d) To know how to play an instrument.

14. What was the name of the French city described in "The French Harem"?
(a) Ville Nouvelle.
(b) Medina.
(c) New France.
(d) Petite Paris.

15. What did Yasmina say was the worst thing for a woman to be cut off from?
(a) Learning to read.
(b) Housework.
(c) Social time with the other wives.
(d) Nature.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mernissi fear about going down the dark stairs at night in her childhood home?

2. Where did the women on Tazi's farm do the dishes in the summer?

3. What did Mernissi and her cousin sleep on when they stayed overnight with Aunt Habiba?

4. What year did Mernissi's mother give up covering her face and wearing a veil?

5. How many communal tables were there at Mernissi's house in Fez?

(see the answer keys)

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