View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long did it take for Aunt Habiba to embroider her black velvet caftan?
(a) Six months.
(b) One day.
(c) Two weeks.
(d) Three years.

2. Why did Mina like to go to the forbidden terrace?
(a) Study.
(b) Read.
(c) Sleep.
(d) Pray.

3. Who did Mernissi's mother ask to represent her at the meeting about Mernissi's education?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her uncle.
(c) Her father.
(d) Her brother.

4. What did Aunt Habiba use to get to the forbidden terrace?
(a) Laundry poles.
(b) Stairs.
(c) Rope.
(d) Laundry bucket.

5. What was the drink Zeri'a made from?
(a) Pineapples.
(b) Melon seeds.
(c) Dates.
(d) Pomegranates.

6. Why did the children get treated with indulgence by the women of the harem?
(a) Because they knew that the children could tell the men what they were doing.
(b) Treating children well meant they would be rewarded by Allah.
(c) They thought children should never be punished.
(d) They were so well behaved.

7. Who guarded the official means of access to the forbidden terrace?
(a) Ahmed.
(b) Aunt Habiba.
(c) Zin.
(d) Uncle Mernissi.

8. Who rescued Mernissi when she got stuck in the olive jars she had slid into?
(a) Chama.
(b) Malika.
(c) Mina.
(d) Samir.

9. What book tells the story of Princess Budar?
(a) Grimm's Fairy Tales.
(b) Tales of Arabian Knights.
(c) The Lives of Egyptian Feminists.
(d) A Thousand and One Nights.

10. What kind of meeting did Mernissi's father call for when he had to decide about Mernissi's education?
(a) Meeting with the principal.
(b) Family council meeting.
(c) Meeting with the school board.
(d) Meeting with religious officials.

11. Who landed at Casablanca Airport for the first time in November, 1942?
(a) Irish immigrants.
(b) Americans soldiers.
(c) Swedish missionaries.
(d) English botanists.

12. What smell did Mernissi's father hate when his wife did her beauty treatments?
(a) Melon.
(b) Amber.
(c) Oranges.
(d) Henna.

13. Who owed a large sum of money to Sis Sussi?
(a) Samir.
(b) Mernissi.
(c) Chama.
(d) Malika.

14. What did Mernissi say were the two most pleasurable aspects of harem life that she wanted to take with her when she was an adult?
(a) Having clear frontiers in her life.
(b) Having relatives live with her.
(c) Eating together.
(d) Hamman and the terrace.

15. Why did Mernissi smuggle kohl from her mother's vanity table for Samir?
(a) He wanted to use examine it under a microscope.
(b) He like using it to draw pictures of cars.
(c) So he could draw a mustache on his face.
(d) He wanted to give it to his cousin.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the Moroccan word "tanaqod" mean?

2. What did Mernissi say was the cure for hem?

3. What was the one thing that Mernissi's mother and Lalla Radia, Samir's mother, agreed upon?

4. What activity was considered illegal that the women sometimes did on the terrace?

5. What color dress did Mernissi wear when she sang nationalist songs for her grandmother?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 467 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample