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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 did Mernissi's grandmother expect the children in the city harem to do when they visited her?

2. How did Asmahan die?

3. At what time did the doorkeeper in Mernissi's childhood home turn off the stair lights at night?

4. What did Yaya give the wives of the harem in exchange for them doing her housework?

5. What kind of prize did the winner of Tamou's competitions receive?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Zin's physical appearance.

2. How does Mernissi describe the Germans?

3. What was Ahmed's role in the Mernissi household?

4. How does Mernissi describe the French soldiers who patrolled the streets outside her house?

5. Why did the women of the farm harem decide to wash the dishes in the river?

6. What part of communal life did Mernissi's mother hate the most?

7. What did Mernissi like about Chama's theory about how the harem first got started?

8. What did Fatima Mernissi do as a child while she waited for her mother to wake up each morning?

9. What did the women of the harem do so they could listen to the radio?

10. How did the Mernissi harem prepare to go on a picnic in the country?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of beauty rituals in harem life. What did Aunt Habiba mean when she said "Skin is political"? In what way did the women's beauty rituals scare the men?

Essay Topic 2

What role did charms and spells play in Mernissi's young life? What kind of spells did she use and what was she hoping to achieve? Was she successful?

Essay Topic 3

Compare the quality of life for women in the harems in Fez and on Grandfather Tazi's farm. Who seemed to have more freedom?

(see the answer keys)

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