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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. What does Sen like to discuss?

2. What interaction does Vasu have with a woman and her daughter on the roadside?

3. What does Vasu say when Sen criticizes Nehru?

4. What are the dynamics between Vasu and the poet?

5. What is the Star?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Nataraj do resolve his concerns about Vasu's tenancy?

2. How does the business transaction unfold between Nataraj and Vasu?

3. What kind of events unfold in chapter one of "The Man-eater of Malgudi?"

4. Who is Rangi, and how do Sastri and Nataraj cross paths with her? What does Nataraj surmise when he starts seeing her?

5. What is the story of the house on Kabir Street?

6. What is the purpose of the blue curtain separating the two rooms of the printing press, and why is this important to Nataraj?

7. What does Nataraj do when he has difficulty finding a puppy for the septuagenarian's grandson? How does his own son get involved?

8. Who does Vasu bring to the press to meet Nataraj, and what happens?

9. How does Vasu get along with the poet and Babu? Give examples.

10. How do Sen and Vasu get along?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the religious and political affairs of India during the mid-twentieth century.

Part 1. Explain the British occupation and the consequences it had on Indian culture and life.

Part 2. Describe the non-violent protests that expelled the English. Who were the major players in the revolution? How did they achieve their goals?

Part 3. What were the major religions present in India at the time, and what happened when the English left?

Essay Topic 2

Rangi is a minor, but pivotal, character in The Man-Eater of Malgudi. Write an essay about Rangi.

Part 1. Who is Rangi? What might she symbolize or represent?

Part 2. Rangi exerts great personal influence wherever she goes, even though she is seen as a "lowly" character. She is also participating as a important figure in the center of the festival and the procession. Explain what R.K. Narayan means by this.

Part 3. Rangi is closest to Vasu when he dies, and has the most plausible plan of all involved to save Kumar. What does R.K. Narayan mean to tell us by this?

Essay Topic 3

The title of the book The Man-Eater of Malgudi is clearly suggests that one of the characters in the book is a rakshasa, or a man-eater.

Part 1. Who is the man-eater? Is there only one?

Part 2. What is a rakshasa, and what are their roles and stories in mythology?

Part 3. How do the actions of the character or characters indicate that they are rakshasas or man-eaters?

(see the answer keys)

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