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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. When does Sem remember a table tennis game in the Botanical Garden at the Sarajevo National Museum that woke him?

2. What is the name of the man who lives in the apartment Sem and his family used to live in in Phoenix?

3. How long did Sem and his family live in Phoenix?

4. Where is Lukas Cierny's daughter from?

5. In "Red Bandana," when does Sem fly to the other side of the continent?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Sem tries to get a hotel room on page 60?

2. Who was Ilija Ladin, and what did Sem say about him?

3. What is Arcosanti?

4. What happens to Sem when he is getting ready for work?

5. What does Sem remember about a trip he took January 31, 1996?

6. Where does Harun live, and why will he not stop there?

7. What does Sem see when the ambulance stops in front of the hospital?

8. How does Sanja prepare the apartment for Sem's return?

9. How does Sem describe Phoenix?

10. In "Red Bandana," what conversation does Sem remember having with his doctor during a routine six-month checkup?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sem still writes in Bosnian, not English. What is Sem’s relationship to language? Why does he consider himself to be a "prisoner of [his] language" (97)? Why does he still write in Bosnian?

Essay Topic 2

Sem feels that he is an object when he is examined by the paramedics. Why does Sem feel like an object when he is surrounded by paramedics? What does he realized about his body? Why does he see it as “an object conveying nothing” (9)?

Essay Topic 3

Sanja has a stroke and is admitted to the hospital. Why does Sem call the hospital ward "a torture chamber” (130)? Why does he think the hospital is not a good place to get well?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 916 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample