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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. How old does Sanja think she is after her stroke?

2. What is the young man named David wearing when he introduces himself to Sem and Harun?

3. Before Sanja's stroke, when was the last time they moved?

4. How long have Sem and Sanja been together when she has her stroke?

5. In 1999, what hotel did Sem stay in?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is unusual about the corridor from the elevator to Sem and Sanja's apartment door, and what problems has that caused?

2. What encounter at a cafe does Sem recall?

3. What do they learn about Sanja's condition after doing scans at the hospital?

4. What does Harun photograph at night, and to what does Sem compare the way that Harun creates photographs?

5. What difficulties has Sanja had with allergies?

6. What does Sem find interesting about the photographs that he and Harun took at Monument Valley?

7. What memory of driving in New Mexico does Sem hope that Sanja has not forgotten?

8. What does Sem think is problematic about how treatment is managed in the hospital?

9. How does Sem compare photographs and drawings?

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

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

Genre is a means of classifying literature. What is the genre of the novel? Why is it fiction?

Essay Topic 3

Both Sem and Harun’s lives have been affected by trauma. How have Sem and Harun’s lives been affected by trauma? How do they process the trauma they have experienced differently?

(see the answer keys)

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