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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the comments about who “liked to spend out time yowling for a past that helped us not a whit, a past that only fortified our loftiest delusions and encouraged excuses instead of the work required of us if we were ever to catch up to the rest of the world” (29), the pronoun “we” refers to which of the following?
(a) Americans.
(b) Minnesotans.
(c) Pre-partition Indians.
(d) Muslims.

2. In what year is the narrator born?
(a) 1971.
(b) 1972.
(c) 1970.
(d) 1973.

3. Which writer does the narrator remark “would not be surprised” at the ascent of Trump (23)?
(a) Hugo.
(b) Dumas.
(c) De Sade.
(d) De Tocqueville.

4. In which city was the narrator on Election Day 2016?
(a) New York.
(b) Houston.
(c) Los Angeles.
(d) Chicago.

5. The term “paaya” refers to which of the following?
(a) Hoof stew.
(b) Cold broth.
(c) Shredded beef.
(d) Pickled feet.

6. Of which of the following did the Akhtars have framed photos from travel?
(a) Fallingwater.
(b) Mount Vernon.
(c) Locust Grove.
(d) Monticello.

7. How much money does Sikander lose at baccarat in Atlantic City?
(a) $2,500.
(b) $7,500.
(c) $5,000.
(d) $10,000.

8. Whom does the narrator quote as saying “Never trust the artist. Trust the tale” (25)?
(a) Thomas Hardy.
(b) George Eliot.
(c) D.H. Lawrence.
(d) T.E. Lawrence.

9. The comment that “he felt something strange in his chest, like a pounding on a distant drum” (7) offers examples of which of the following?
(a) Alliteration.
(b) Rhyme.
(c) Chiasmus.
(d) Anaphora.

10. What profession had Sikander’s father held?
(a) Laborer.
(b) Physician.
(c) Imam.
(d) Soldier.

11. The comment that “the man seemed to be turning into an imbecile, his hodgepodge views like mental flatulence, one fetid odor after another” (16) offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Analogy.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Conceit.
(d) Simile.

12. To which of the following did Sikander take his family camping?
(a) The Tetons.
(b) The Appalachians.
(c) The Adirondacks.
(d) The Davis Mountains.

13. In which city does Sikander secure a position after first coming to the United States?
(a) Trenton.
(b) Newark.
(c) Atlantic City.
(d) New York City.

14. The comment about “his ceaselessly shifting emotions, his evasions and avowals and disavowals, the steady shedding of his civility” (14) offers examples of which of the following?
(a) Chiasmus.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Rhyme.
(d) Anaphora.

15. In what year does the narrator report winning a Pulitzer?
(a) 2012.
(b) 2014.
(c) 2011.
(d) 2013.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following refers to Moroni as “the finest mind of her generation” (xiii)?

2. Outside which town does the driver Naseem hires live?

3. In what program is the student who complained to the administration that Moroni was speaking against the troops by questioning Desert Storm?

4. The comment that “Difficulty had been the flint stone against which her powers of analysis were sharpened” (xvi) offers an example of which of the following?

5. Which of the following is among the books Asma gives the narrator?

(see the answer keys)

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