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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 is the narrator's response to the presumption about Mustafa?

2. What had instructions about what to do in the event of Mustafa's death?

3. What does the narrator invite Mustafa to after their introduction?

4. Whose voice did the narrator hear when he walked by his grandfather's house?

5. What is stored in the strange triangular room of Mustafa's house?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was the strange man in the village when the narrator gets back and how does he describe this man?

2. What did you learn about Mustafa's trial in the pages 19-44?

3. How do the narrator and Mustafa first meet and what do they learn about each other?

4. What happened on the train one day, when the narrator works at the Department of Education in Khartoum?

5. What did Mustafa's school career look like?

6. Whose story did the narrator interrupt when arriving at his grandfather's house one day and what was the story about?

7. What does Mustafa have to do with the topic of mixed marriages?

8. What is being said about Western women during a conversation at the grandfather's house?

9. Which woman did Mustafa meet at a party in Chelsea and what happened to her?

10. What does the narrator tell his family about the Europeans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On pages 105-115, the narrator and his driver make a car trip back to Khartoum. Describe this trip. Through the trip, what do you learn about the Sudan? What decisions does the narrator make on this trip? Are the events important for the plot of the book? Why or why not? Why do you think the author wrote this chapter in the book?

Essay Topic 2

An important meeting takes place in the beginning of the book. During the narrator's absence in the village, a stranger by the name of Mustafa has arrived and settled. Describe how the narrator and Mustafa first meet. How do they get to know each other? How does their relationship evolve? Why is this evolving relationship important for the plot of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Mustafa suffered from wanderlust. How is this portrayed in the book? What does Mustafa do to fulfill this wanderlust? Where does he go? Why? What does he do there? Where does he finally end up? Is this the end of his wanderlust? Why do you think that? How is his wanderlust related to his disappearance? Compare or contrast Mustafa's wanderlust with what he wants for his sons. Use supporting evidence from the book. Relate this wanderlust to the narrator's perception of what happened to Mustafa.

(see the answer keys)

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