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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the doctor at the hospital ward respond to Chid and the narrator?

2. How long does the narrator intend to stay at her proposed destination at the end of the story?

3. What happens when Olivia goes to have an abortion?

4. What does Olivia seem to feel about determining the father of her child in Section 29?

5. What does Olivia ask Harry to do in Section 32?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The amount of freedom and choice varies greatly among the characters in Heat and Dust. Compare and contrast how each set of characters below is trapped by, wastes or uses their given freedom in the story.

1) Douglas and the Nawab.

2) Olivia and the Narrator.

3) Chid and Ritu.

Essay Topic 2

Symbolism occurs in many forms in Heat and Dust. Select 3 symbolic items from the list below, or elsewhere in the story. Answer the questions that follow about those 3 items. Red strings, the piano, Olivia's letters, Chid's robe, the Nawab's palace, the Saunders' baby's grave, the grove, Baba Firdau's shrine, the royal tombs, Maji's hut.

1) Explain the significance this item has to the story and to specific characters.

2) Relate the symbolic item to the culture in which it exists.

3) Discuss what the story would lose without the inclusion of this symbolic item.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the role of faith in Heat and Dust. Select one of the questions to analyze.

1) How does the narrator's faith or lack of faith impact her experiences and expectations in this story?

2) How does the narrator's faith in herself or in others change the direction of the novel at an important point or points?

3) Which character in the story has the strongest faith? The weakest?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 417 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample