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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 daughters does Old Man Shakil have?

2. What happens to the narrator's poet friend in Karachi by the time Rushdie returns to London?

3. What is the name of the servant whom Raza punches in the yard of Iskander's estate?

4. What is the name of Bilquis' widowed father?

5. Whose left eye begins blinking when the news is delivered to Raza that his wife is pregnant again?

Short Essay Questions

1. What theory does the author propose regarding the mysterious pregnancy of the sisters?

2. How does Sindbad Mengal meet his fate?

3. What is the political atmosphere in Delhi prior to the destruction of Bilquis' father's business?

4. What effect does voyeurism-by-proxy have on Omar's mothers, and what is possibly the consequence of this effect?

5. How does Omar Khayyam describe himself to Iskander Harappa, as described at the end of Chapter 1?

6. Briefly, what is the generally accepted reason that the husbands in the Hyder family "secretly" visit their wives in common in the night?

7. What characterizes Omar Khayyam Shakil's early educational experiences?

8. What are the important nuances of the word "sharam" that are not carried over into the English "shame"?

9. How is Omar initially greeted upon his exiting Nishapur?

10. How is Bilquis' father's business ruined?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compose an insightful essay on the character of Raza Hyder. As one of the principal protagonists of the story's events, what is Raza's overall significance to the story and its main themes? What are his primary character traits and in what actions do they show themselves? Does he in any way change over the course of the story? How do the other characters think of him and act towards him throughout the story? In what ways does he represent universal human nature? Is his character one of virtue? If so, in what ways, and if not, in what ways?

Essay Topic 2

Being careful to make the necessary distinctions, write an analytical essay which discusses the significance of the actions of the Beast, as something that resides within but is not Sufiya Zinobia. Which of its actions most significantly impact the story? Why is it an entity that is not Sufiya Zinobia, properly speaking (consider the allegorical significance of Sufiya Zinobia)? Why would it reside within Sufiya Zinobia? What function does the Beast play in the plot of the story? To what actions is the Beast a reaction? Who are its victims, and why?

Essay Topic 3

A major theme of the story is the overall instability of Pakistani society as it is represented. This overall instability is reflected in various ways, both macrocosmic (in nature) and microcosmic (in individuals). Examine these reflections in a considerate essay. What are the macrocosmic reflections of instability? What are the microcosmic reflections? Is the overall situation of instability constructed by the individual situations of instability? If so, how? Is the country unstable just as it is explicitly portrayed, or in any other fashions? What individual decisions and actions create the ostensible aspects of the country's instability?

(see the answer keys)

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