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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. Why was Baba Firdau's shrine built?

2. According to Olivia's letters, where do Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Minnies go together in 1923?

3. Where does the Nawab keep his pianos?

4. What does the narrator receive from Chid in Section 21?

5. What does Harry tell the narrator when she asks him for news on Khatm when he visits in Section 16?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Inder Lal's mother take Ritu on the pilgrimage?

2. Is Maji sympathetic to the narrator?

3. Why is the location of the narrator's first act of intimacy with Inder Lal significant?

4. Is Mrs. Saunders aware of Olivia's relationship with the Nawab in Section 24?

5. How does the narrator feel upon discovering that she is pregnant?

6. Why does the narrator write to Chid's family in Section 31?

7. Why does Olivia write to Marcia in Section 16?

8. Describe the beggar the narrator notices and helps in Section 23.

9. Explain how Olivia reveals the details of her pregnancy to the possible fathers.

10. How do the men react when Olivia first reveals that she is pregnant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the roles of tradition and symbolism in Heat and Dust. Be sure to explain how the examples you give helped or hindered the people involved, why they chose to participate in acts or events, and why the symbols or symbolic acts or traditions were meaningful to the plot and storyline.

Essay Topic 2

Select two characters from the story that have different perspectives of the same event. Write two letters, one from each character addressed to the other, describing their event and what happened. For example, you might use Douglas and the Nawab's account of Olivia's pregnancy, Chid and Inder Lal's perceptions of the narrator's journey, or Dr. Saunders' and the Begum's perception of Olivia's abortion.

Essay Topic 3

In Heat and Dust, the narrator explores the life of a woman who lives in a different era, while living in a culture different from her own. Answer the following questions with these points in mind.

1) Is Ritu's treatment by her husband, mother-in-law and the narrator acceptable? Explain.

2) Why is Olivia's behavior so readily condemned by her English peers?

3) Explain why the old beggar woman who dies in Maji's arms is pivotal to the narrator's journey.

(see the answer keys)

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