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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. Which of the following does the narrator’s uncle Naseem cite “as proof of his point about the fundamental military basis of great leadership” (76)?

2. Whom does the narrator quote as saying “Never trust the artist. Trust the tale” (25)?

3. Rooh Afza lassi is which of the following?

4. What is the name of the driver Naseem hires to drive the narrator and Sikander?

5. Who is President of the United States when “Overture: To America” begins?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Sikander rail against Naseem after he and the narrator leave Abbottabad?

2. What message does the narrator note is sent by the United States turning against Afghanistan and Iraq in the late 1980s and early 1990s?

3. What reasons does Asma give for disliking The Satanic Verses?

4. What does the narrator note was necessary for him to understand the comments Moroni makes in her class and her letter (xvi-xvii)?

5. What form does Latif’s bent towards charitable work take throughout his medical career?

6. What struggles does Moroni cite as “fires beneath her crucible” in her letter to the narrator following the 11 September 2001 attacks (xvi)?

7. What does Fatima expect will be Anjum’s fate, and what actually does happen to Anjum?

8. What does the narrator cite as major disagreements his mother has with the idea of American exceptionalism that his father espouses?

9. What reasons does the narrator give for his mother not watching the news?

10. What does the narrator report valuing in Whitman when he read him initially (xvii)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Asma asserts that “A day spent reading is not a great day. But a life spent reading is a wonderful life” (62). Is the assertion correct? What in the novel and in experience says that it is or is not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the comment that “America had begun as a colony and that a colony it remained, that is, a place still defined by its plunder, where enrichment was paramount and civil order always an afterthought” (xiii). Is the definition of “colony” presented in the comment accurate? What in the novel and in experience indicates that it is / not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

What function is served by the paratextual shift from a typical prose layout to the screenplay layout that occurs during Sikander’s trial? How is it accomplished?

(see the answer keys)

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