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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. To which of the following landmarks does Fiaz take Seema, Tahera, and Nafeesa?

2. Which of the following meanings associates with Seema’s name?

3. In which of the following does Leigh live?

4. In which of the following does Seema have a residence?

5. In what field does Leigh work?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Nafeesa prepare special chai for her daughters?

2. To what kitchen tasks does Tahera put Amina?

3. How does Tahera prepare her family for her trip to San Francisco?

4. To what action of his does Bill ascribe the peril Seema and Ishraaq face at the latter’s birth?

5. For what purposes does Imam Zia seek to develop the area surrounding his mosque?

6. For what reason does Tahera refuse to eat the chicken served on the day she arrives in San Francisco?

7. What are Leigh and Seema doing when Seema learns of her mother’s diagnosis?

8. How does Nafeesa attempt to hide her worsening condition from her daughters?

9. What rumors about Seema does Leigh uncover before meeting her?

10. As what does Tahera gloss “Bismallah wa’ala barakatillah” (17)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the primary narrator. How might the novel have differed were the narrator and his family other than Southeast Asian? Why would it be different in such ways?

Essay Topic 2

Similarly, the lengths of chapters influence reading. What pattern of chapter-length is present in the novel, if any? What effect does the length of chapters have on the reading? How is the effect achieved?

Essay Topic 3

To what extent can the novel be taken as autobiographical? What in the novel and in its authorial context suggests as much? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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