View a FREE sample

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 have passed within the story from the end of Chapter 6 to the beginning of Chapter 7?

2. With what phrase does Sufiya Zinobia respond to the bridal advice given to her by her mother on the eve of her wedding?

3. After the coup, Raza Hyder appears on television and promises that there will be free elections within how many days?

4. For how long does Iskander Harappa, in his initial place of post-coup confinement, verbally assault Raza Hyder?

5. Of whom does Omar dream the night that Sufiya Zinobia is taken to the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reasons does Arjumand Harappa develop an affection for Haroun Harappa?

2. What ethereal conflict besets the mind of Raza Hyder during his presidency?

3. Why does the narrator include the anecdote about seeing a London performance of Danton's Death?

4. Why does the Pakistani man in London, referred to by the narrator at the beginning of Chapter 7, murder his own daughter?

5. How do the 18 shawls embroidered by Rani over the six years of home imprisonment depict the life of Iskander Harappa?

6. How does Raza Hyder restore the morale of the deflated Pakistani army?

7. Why, in the opinion of Omar Khayyam Shakil, does Sufiya Zinobia become intensely ill?

8. How does Iskander Harappa rise to power?

9. Why does the Pakistani government intercept and destroy all incoming copies of a particular issue of Newsweek?

10. What is revealed by Rani Harappa's uncovering of the deceased Iskander's face?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shame ends with an enormous, violent explosion. This explosion is very symbolic of the story as a whole. Without getting caught up too much in the details, explain how this symbolic explosion is a fitting end to the turmoil and conflict of the story. What various disturbances and struggles throughout the book are terminated by this explosion, both literally and as a symbol? How do the various characters and their actions contribute to the explosion's magnitude? How is the chain of events which leads up to the explosion started, and which characters are responsible for it?

Essay Topic 2

One of the most important connotations of sharam that is emphasized in Shame is the concept of modesty. Throughout the story, this concept plays an important role in shaping the behavior and attitudes of characters. In a well-developed analytical essay, discuss the various situations in which modesty plays an important role. Which characters adopt attitudes of modesty? How does a lack of modesty negatively effect some characters, and which are effected by it? What does the nuance of modesty carry that distinguishes it from other aspects of shame? What is modesty's role in the main theme of shame?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 895 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample