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. What does Sinuhe tell his mother and father he wants to be when he grows up?

2. Who comes upon Amenhotep and Sinuhe in the desert?

3. When the god Ammon statue talks to Sinuhe, whose voice does Sinuhe hear?

4. What kind of houses do the people of Babylon live in?

5. What is ailing the king of Babylon?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Sinuhe opens a skull and finds that the "disease had laid its egg" what does he mean by that? What is the egg inside the man's head? What does Sinuhe do with it? How does he repair the opening? What is significant about the fact that the man falls from a wall three days later and breaks his neck and dies? What is that supposed to symbolize?

2. Explain the process that Sinuhe is taught in school about life after death. Who is Osiris? Who is the Devourer? What does the Devourer look like? Who is the Backward-Gazer? Why is this important knowledge for the average Egyptian?

3. When Sinuhe and Kaptah arrive in Babylon, Kaptah wants Sinuhe to announce his presence to the other physicians in a certain way. How does he want Sinuhe to announce that he is in Babylonia? Why? Why is this important to their relationships with others? Is this political correctness for the time? Why?

4. Why does Senmut take Sinuhe to meet Inteb, the warrior? What lesson does Senmut want Sinuhe to leave with?

5. What is important about being able to read more than one Egyptian character at a time? How does this make the reader different in the eyes of others?

6. What is the scarab to Kaptah? What is the scarab to Sinuhe? How do the two belief systems differ? How does Kaptah anoint the scarab?

7. In Babylon, the astrologers know the heavenly bodies. What does this tell us about the people of Babylon? Is this advanced science for the time? Why? Why not? How will this knowledge affect the gods that they worship?

8. When Ptahor is opening the skull of the pharaoh, the young prince steps forward and speaks of a blessing from the god Aton. How does Ptahor react to this? Why does he react as he does?

9. When Sinuhe says that a man who knows the Babylonian language can be understood throughout the world, what does this say about Babylon? If Egypt is the most powerful land on earth, then why would the Egyptian language be the most important language? What does this say about politics of the time?

10. When Sinuhe enters the House of Life to study, what advise does he take to heart? How does this decision affect his relationships with his classmates and teachers? Is it the right way to behave or did this hurt him in the long run?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Once Sinuhe discovers his origin, what happens to his personality? How does he view the royal family and those who fight over the crown? Do you think this attitude affects how he is unable to see that Thoth is his very own child?

Essay Topic 2

Often in the novel a swallow or bird flies around in and out of scenes. What do you think this is a symbol of? Note when this happens in the novel and see if there is a pattern?

Essay Topic 3

Are there instances in the novel when you think someone is hypnotized? When? How many times do you see this in the novel? Do you think this was a common form of trickery at the time? Why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,438 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample