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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Abbas learn that Hamida left with a man?

2. What does Kirsha want from Hamida after his heart attack?

3. What does Hamida feel when she unexpectedly encounters Abbas?

4. What does Hamida believe the stranger means when he says, "I'm just the one to take you!"

5. Why has Abbas returned to the alley?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Determine what the main theme of Midaq Alley is, and support your answer with evidence from the book. Where is this theme seen in the book? How is it exemplified? Who does it affect? What role does it have in the plot?

Essay Topic 2

What effect on Mahfouz' storytelling was created by the fact that his audience had a low level of literacy and were unlikely to have ever read a novel before this one? What probable effects of those facts can you demonstrate in the text?

Essay Topic 3

In Midaq Alley, many behaviors, such as smoking hashish, assaulting a spouse, bribing people to vote for a candidate, and maiming human beings, are tolerated that would be illegal under other circumstances. What is it about the alley that keeps reprehensible conduct from being punished? Does it seem to you that such laxity is part of the general culture or specific to the low level of economic and educational well-being that is seen in Midaq Alley? Use evidence from the text to support your position.

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