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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. The use of “Hollywood” to refer to the movie industry is an example of which of the following?

2. What High Renaissance artist does the narrator invoke when describing “the expression [he] saw on Asha’s face [as] one of tenderness” (193)?

3. Which of the following does the narrator report attended his play?

4. On what day of the week does the narrator’s car break down?

5. The term “latrinalia” carries which of the following meanings in the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe Mariam Meriha (137)?

2. What is the dream technique the narrator reports having learned from Moroni?

3. What comments does the narrator claim to expect to receive from his parents after leaving the repair shop in Scranton?

4. Why does the narrator report being initially put at ease by the Pennsylvania state trooper who pulls him over?

5. What features does the narrator initially ascribe to Rind that mark him as Pakistani, rather than Indian?

6. Why does the university dean on Rind’s foundation board oppose the narrator joining said board?

7. What reasons does Moroni give to mistrust Freud? What reasons does she note to trust him?

8. What associations does the narrator report many interlocutors who ask about his name and background have with India?

9. What does the narrator report as shocking in his review of the transcripts of proceedings against Rind’s investment company?

10. What agencies does the narrator deny led to his wealth?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While conversing with the narrator, a Pennsylvania state trooper remarks that “when [one of the leaders of the 11 September 2001 attacks] returned his rental car on September ninth, he called the rental agency to tell them the oil light was on. Can you believe that? He didn’t care about the three thousand people they killed, but he cared about the next person driving the car” (93). What accounts for the disjunction? What in the book and in experience tells you that it does? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the following comment: “As ever, interpretation has more to do with the one interpreting than the one being interpreted” (25). Is the comment true or not? What in the novel and in experience suggests that it is or is not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the quote from Montaigne’s “Of Experience” the narrator presents: “I take it for true that dreams are honest reflections of our inclinations; but there is art to making sense of them” (104). What is meant by the quote? What from the narrator indicates that meaning? How does it do so?

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