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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 many years did Mustafa stay in his first school before going abroad the first time?

2. What does the narrator's sister think about Western women?

3. When were rooms added to the grandfather's house?

4. Who should be given the key to the triangular room eventually?

5. Who is telling a story when the narrator arrives at his grandfather's house?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How does the narrator's knowledge of Mustafa conflict with that of his acquaintances from the University of Khartoum?

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

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

7. What does the narrator tell you about the steamer that brings him to his old village?

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

9. How can you relate the narrator to the Acacia tree?

10. What did grandfather tell the narrator about Wad Rayyes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In pages 45-60, an important event is talked about. Describe the event. What do you learn about the river? What's its name? How frequent does an event like this happen? Why is it called legendary? Why is the event important for the plot of the book? How do you relate this event to the character of Mustafa? How do you relate it to the character of the narrator? What do you think happened to Mustafa? Why?

Essay Topic 2

"Season of Migration to the North" is basically a "story within a story". How can you tell this is the case? Use your own words to explain the story within the story in the book and find a few examples to support your explanation.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout "Season of Migration to the North", Europe and the Europeans come up in a lot of conversations. What is being said in the book about Europe? What is the villagers' idea about Europeans? Differentiate what the different characters think or say about Europeans. What is the narrator's response to everybody's thoughts about Europe? What is his experience about Europeans? How does all the information about Europeans in the book relate to your opinions or thoughts about Europe? How would the book have been different if the narrator had not lived in Europe?

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