View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what decade does Rushdie posit the human population of India exceeded the divine?
(a) 1940s.
(b) 1920s.
(c) 1930s.
(d) 1950s.

2. As which of the following did Hitchens address Mos Def?
(a) Dr. Def.
(b) Mr. Definition.
(c) Dr. Defenestration.
(d) Mr. Definitely.

3. With which of the following does the first essay of the section, “Truth,” begin?
(a) “India, in the mid-sixteenth century.”
(b) “What, art thou mad? Art thou mad?”
(c) “Before there were books, there were stories.”
(d) “The last time I heard from Philip Roth was in October 2017.”

4. Which of the following does Rushdie call “The first great writer I knew” (158)?
(a) Ahmad Faraz.
(b) Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
(c) Mir Taqi Mir.
(d) Mirza Ghalib.

5. Which of the following of Rushdie’s characters does he admit borrows from a childhood friend?
(a) Soumitra.
(b) Hairoil.
(c) Hanif.
(d) Masha.

6. Of what city’s organized crime does Roberto Saviano write?
(a) Padua.
(b) Naples.
(c) Venice.
(d) Rome.

7. In what year does Rushdie first encounter Muhammad Ali?
(a) 1999.
(b) 2000.
(c) 2001.
(d) 2002.

8. Which of the following does Rushdie note transferred control of Bombay to England?
(a) Portugal.
(b) Spain.
(c) India.
(d) France.

9. With which of the following does Rushdie note Hitchens became enamored?
(a) Rudy de Leon.
(b) Gordon England.
(c) Paul Woflowitz.
(d) Ash Carter.

10. Who claims to have been the inspiration for Rushdie’s character Vina Aspara?
(a) Seema Unni.
(b) Seema Puthli.
(c) Asha Puthli.
(d) Asha Unni.

11. In which year does Rushdie note the Indian Uprising occurred?
(a) 1776.
(b) 1066.
(c) 1857.
(d) 1583.

12. Which of the following wrote “Stalin Epigram” in 1933?
(a) Solzhenitsyn.
(b) Akhmatova.
(c) Mandelstam.
(d) Sakharov.

13. Which of the following prevails upon Clinton to meet personally with Rushdie?
(a) Rahm Emmanuel.
(b) Charles Gibson.
(c) George Stephanopoulos.
(d) Mark Gearan.

14. Which of the following of Rushdie’s characters does he admit is autobiographical?
(a) Saleem Sinai.
(b) Aadam Aziz.
(c) Sonny Ibrahim.
(d) Mian Abdullah.

15. Which of the following does Rushdie cite as an example of a courageous politician?
(a) Desmond Tutu.
(b) Nelson Mandela.
(c) Graça Machel.
(d) Thabo Mbeki.

Short Answer Questions

1. To which of the following is Hitchens’s mind compared?

2. In the context of discussing Muhammad Ali, the word “hagiography” most nearly means which of the following?

3. Which of the following argued in 1986 that “literature is not an equal-opportunity employer” (221)?

4. Which of the following was accused of being “a woman hungry of sex” (230)?

5. On what date is “Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)” written?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 383 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample