View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What, per Cyrus, is the mortal sin of the martyr?

2. Of what does Cyrus note Orkideh smells?

3. To which of the following does Cyrus compare himself?

4. Which of the following does Cyrus cite for comments about grief?

5. What is the name of Leila’s neighbor?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ferdowsi give away the copper he receives?

2. Why does Cyrus sit outside with Zee at a café near Prospect Park?

3. Why had Arash listened to Allegri’s Miserere?

4. Why does Cyrus posit Sang Linh is able to function so soon after Orkideh’s death?

5. What comments does Cyrus make that lead to a falling-out with Zee?

6. How does Cyrus explain his collapse in the museum to the docents?

7. Per Orkideh, what marks out grace?

8. Why is Arash not allowed to provide water to other soldiers?

9. In the novel, what is a myth?

10. What does the front desk clerk at Cyrus’s hotel ask him when he checks out?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what genre other than urban fiction might Martyr! be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

The novel returns to its epigraph at its end, giving a fuller quotation there than at the beginning of the text. What effect does it have for the reader, and how is that effect achieved?

Essay Topic 3

Typically, an epigraph is expected to speak to or set the tone for the work it introduces. Does the epigraph of Martyr! do so for the present novel? How or how not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 517 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample