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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 day of the week did Sanja have her stroke?

2. Where is the young man named David who introduces himself to Sem and Harun from?

3. What color ambulance takes Sanja to the hospital?

4. What Mexican dessert is similar to the Bosnian dessert patispanja?

5. Where does a CT scan indicate that Sanja has a clot in an artery?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Sem find interesting about photographs "M" took of their apartment?

2. What does Sem remember Harun telling a college interviewer?

3. Why do they not know how to treat Sanja after her stroke?

4. How does Sem compare photographs and drawings?

5. What difficulties has Sanja had with allergies?

6. How did Harun acquire the habit of going into the mountains when he was quite young, and what did he do there?

7. What does Sem tell Sanja is in the hospital when she asks what happened to her?

8. What encounter at a cafe does Sem recall?

9. What type of tennis shoes does Sanja have, and why are those typical of who she is and what she is like?

10. What is Sanja's situation by the time she has been in the hospital for four nights?

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

Both Sem and Harun suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How and why do Sem and Harun suffer from PTSD? How do their symptoms of PTSD manifest themselves? How has PTSD influenced their lives and careers?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, some characters are more thoroughly described than others. Who are some characters that are merely named in passing or have a minor role in the novel? What is the importance of these flat characters to the storyline? In what way do these characters make the main characters more colorful or interesting? When there is conflict, what type of role do some flat characters play?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 947 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample