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

Short Answer Questions

1. When is the first time that Olivia calls the Nawab by his name?

2. What is different about Chid when he returns on August 15th?

3. When does she tell Douglas that she is pregnant?

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

5. What does the Nawab joke about on the day that he and Olivia make love for the first time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Inder Lal, the narrator, Olivia and the Nawab all carry on affairs while married or with someone who is married.

1)Is any one of these deceptions more acceptable than the others? For instance, is it more okay for the narrator to have the affair than Inder Lal because she is unmarried?

2) How does the act of deception affect the character's future in the story?

3) What other acts of deception occur in the novel, and how do they impact the characters involved?

Essay Topic 3

The use of religion and culture to justify a character's actions occurs in different ways in Heat and Dust.

1) Find 3 incidences of these occurrences and discuss their impact on the story.

2) Explain the differing attitudes toward abortion that are seen in the story.

3) Choose a character from the novel and explain how he or she is judged based on that person's religious or cultural beliefs.

(see the answer keys)

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