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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. Who told the narrator about Wad's marriage plans?

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

3. Who joins the narrator when he is drinking with Mahjoub one day?

4. Who waits for the narrator each time he arrived back in his childhood village?

5. Who does the narrator talk to one day when taking the train?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Mustafa want for his sons?

2. What else, after the conversation about Western women, was being talked about in grandfather's house the same day?

3. What do you know about the legendary flooding of the Nile described in the book?

4. How does the house of the narrator's grandfather look like?

5. What did Mustafa do after he was released from prison?

6. How was Mustafa treated during his time in Cairo?

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

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

9. What happened to Mustafa when he meets a man on horseback?

10. What do you know about the narrator's grandfather as a person?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator's grandfather plays an important role in the narrator's life. Explain their relationship and use examples from the different chapters. What do you know about the grandfather? Where does he live? How does his house look like? What kind of a person is he? What do he and the narrator talk about? How do you know he is important to the narrator? Relate this importance to the narrator's memories and his experiences when visiting his village.

Essay Topic 2

The triangular room is mentioned throughout the book. What is this room? Why is it important? Whose room is it? What does the narrator have to do with this room? What happens to the room? What are the contents in this room? What does the narrator do in this room? What does he see and what is his reaction? What does he relate the pictures of the women to? How is Jean Morris' death related to Hosna's death? How does the narrator leave the room? Why is his being in the room important to the conclusion of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Foreshadowing is used when the narrator visits Mustafa's widow and they talk. What is being said that will influence Hosna's future? Where is the foreshadowing being used? What does foreshadowing mean? Explain this principle with the example about Hosna in the book. Are there other cases of foreshadowing used by the author? If so, give a few more examples.

(see the answer keys)

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