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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 was the name of the college Mustafa went to in the Sudan?

2. Who was the public prosecutor at Mustafa's trial?

3. How do the narrator and his grandfather feel about seeing each other?

4. What does the narrator not want Mustafa to become for him?

5. Where did the narrator stay during his absence in the village?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What was left for the narrator after Mustafa disappears?

4. Does Mustafa Sa'eed become an obsession for the narrator?

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

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

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

8. What did the narrator do after Mustafa told him his story?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

When the narrator returns to his Sudanese village, after an absence of seven years, everybody is happy about this event. How do you know this? How is the narrator's happiness to be back in the village expressed in the book? How do you know his family and friends are happy he is back? Describe their actions and feelings. Use evidence from the book. Give a few other examples of how happiness can be expressed in literature.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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