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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 the name of the fellow recently released detainee that is taken along with Khalid to a waiting van after they leave the airplane in Chapter 27?

2. What does Khalid read at the assembly in Chapter 29?

3. What does Khalid watch crawling on the non-working air conditioner from his cell in Chapter 17?

4. During his speech at the assembly in Chapter 29, Khalid says, “Hurt is hurt. Harm is harm. Bullying is bullying. What everyone wants is the same thing.” What is this thing?

5. Of whose capture does Khalid’s new lawyer tell him about in Chapter 24?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Khalid to feel guilty in Chapter 25? What does Khalid receive in the mail in this chapter?

2. How is Khalid’s speech at the assembly described in Chapter 29? How do the students respond?

3. What music is blaring in the prison when Khalid awakens in Chapter 18? What does this make Khalid think of?

4. How is Khalid’s psychological state illustrated in the beginning of Chapter 21?

5. What conversation takes place between Khalid and Tariq when Khalid is brought back to his cell in Chapter 24?

6. How is Khalid’s arrival home described in Chapter 28? How does Khalid respond to the experience of arriving home?

7. What news does the food trolley man relate to the prisoners in Chapter 16? How do they respond?

8. What question does Khalid repeatedly ask in the beginning of Chapter 22? Why?

9. Whom does Khalid encounter on his way to the barber in Chapter 21? What exchange is described?

10. What causes Khalid to not answer the calls from the next prison cell in Chapter 23?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the game Bomber One which has been developed by Tariq in the novel. What are the objectives of the game? What other games does Khalid compare it to? What foreshadowing surrounds this game in the narrative? How many players are involved in the game?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the character of Khalid Ahmed as the protagonist of the novel. Where does Khalid live when the story begins? How old is he? How does the author’s use of language inform you about the character? How does Khalid's character evolve in the course of the story?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the setting of the Sarposa prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. How large is this prison? When was it established? What history of torture has been related through the news of the prison facilities? How long is Khalid detained here?

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