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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 do most people say when Mama approaches them about marriage for Uma?

2. Why are Mama and Papa angry when Uma returns home after dinner out with a relative?

3. What does Uma notice about Aruna in Chapter 8?

4. What happens to the dowry Papa gives a suitor for Uma?

5. What decision do Uma's parents make that displeases her?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Anamika's life after her marriage?

2. What does Mira-Masi tell Uma one day about the mark of the Lord, and how does Uma react?

3. How does Uma compare herself to Aruna?

4. How does Mother Agnes respond to Uma's pleas?

5. How does giving birth to a male child affect Mama's status?

6. Who does Uma call in Chapter 9, and what is the outcome?

7. Who are the main Indian characters?

8. How does Uma feel about Mira-Masi?

9. Why does Uma sneak out of the house one day?

10. What does Uma feel about the time she fell into the Ganges and was sinking?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Often, authors will write about "what they know," and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting. Discuss the following:

a) Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Will Desai. What in Desai's background may have helped her in writing Fasting, Feasting? What may have influenced the way she depicts various characters and scenes?

b) Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples.

c) What does the term "author agenda" mean?

d) Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Desai's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Desai's probable agenda concerning that idea.

e) Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface? Why or why not?

f) How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author? Explain your answer with examples.

Essay Topic 2

Chapter 6 makes very clear the questionable prospects of young girls who are married off to seemingly suitable husbands. Anamika's fate is sealed at the hands of her abusive husband and mother-in-law. She cannot leave the marriage because leaving would bring shame on her own family according to Indian culture. Even Uma notes the irony in the situation that the beautiful and gifted Anamika, to whom life has always been kind, suffers a miserable fate, even more miserable than the suffocating and hopeless existence lived by Uma.

a) Do you think arranged marriages should be legal? Why or why not? Use examples from Fasting, Feasting to support your answer.

b) Discuss the concept of family honor in the context of Anamika leaving her marriage. Use examples from Fasting, Feasting to support your answer.

c) Compare and contrast Anamika’s fate with Uma’s fate.

Essay Topic 3

The author connects Uma's strange, almost epileptic, fits to religious or spiritual events. The first time Uma collapses in one of her fits, she is in the presence of Mother Agnes at the Catholic convent school. Uma spins out of control, writhes on the floor, and shrieks hysterically when Mira-Masi tells Uma that she has the mark of the Lord on her. It is not clear yet why these fits happen at these specific times; but the author may be trying to symbolize Uma's need for release from her imprisoned life. Spirituality may be one method of achieving some sort of freedom. The fits may also symbolize the precipice of a new life for Uma who is likened to an infant when the pilgrim at the ashram hits Uma on the back to restart her breathing just as if Uma is freshly born again.

a) Discuss the reasons Uma’s fits might be considered either an escape or defense mechanism.

b) Discuss the symbolism of Uma’s fits in relationship to life with Uma’s parents.

c) Do you think Uma has control over her fits? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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