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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. For how many days, roughly, does Raza Hyder go without sleep in order to watch over the refugees?

2. How many visits has the narrator made to his sister over 22 years?

3. Which of the following does Omar request as a present on his 12th birthday?

4. What is the immediate result of Mahmoud's announcement that he is showing a double feature to both Hindus and Muslims?

5. What significant event happens to the girls at their coming-out party?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Why is Raza Hyder's military victory so greatly lauded throughout Pakistan?

5. Of what two cultural parts is the town of Q's dumbbell shape composed?

6. In what idea do Raza and Bilquis put an undue amount of faith, and why is this a troublesome belief?

7. Why are the children of the British colonials sent back to England after the age of eight to continue their educations?

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

9. What happens to the real names of the three sisters, and by what names are they instead called?

10. How does Sindbad Mengal meet his fate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Various actions and statements made by the characters throughout the story support the notion that in Pakistan, as portrayed in Shame, males are in every way superior to females. Analyze, in a well-developed essay, this societal perspective. Who holds this view? Who objects to it? In what ways does this view, as espoused implicitly or explicitly by various characters, impact the story? What is the significance of this view to the main themes and the morals promoted within them as presented throughout the story of Shame?

Essay Topic 2

In an analytical essay, carefully examine the character and personality of Omar Khayyam Shakil. Take into account all of the relevant details, from the moment and manner of his conception until his violent death. In what ways is he is a peripheral character? How is he in any sense a hero of the story? In what way do his actions, or lack thereof, move the events of the story? In what ways is he significant as a symbolic character? What does his character, in all its exaggerations, demonstrate about universal human nature?

Essay Topic 3

In a well-structured essay, analyze the actions and motivations of the Shakil Sisters. Although they appear in only a few chapters of the book, they nonetheless play a vital role which shapes events throughout the book. Demonstrate how this is so and what they accomplish. What characters do they influence, and how does that influence further influence other characters? How does everything come full circle to them? In what manner does their life begin, and how does it end? What does the circuity of the story's plot reveal about the Shakil Sisters?

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