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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. After the battle with Khabiri, how does Horemheb reward his men?

2. When Minea wakes on the boat after her escape from Babylon, why is she angry at Sinuhe?

3. Why is the day of Sinuhe's birth unknown?

4. How many days does Sinuhe serve in the House of Death?

5. When the prince is crowned, who is his royal consort?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Sinuhe meets a man in the City of Dead when he buries his parents. What is this man's story a moral for in the story? What lesson does this impart to Sinuhe or to the reader? What message is the author trying to tell?

3. 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?

4. As the novel progresses, Kaptah begins to refer to the property of Sinuhe as "our" as in "our" house, "our" scarab and even "our" gold. What does this indicate to the reader? Does Sinuhe seem aware of these changes? If he does, does he care? Why? Why not? What does this say about their relationship?

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

6. What is Ptahor's job? Is this a cure for any disease or is this a quick way to die? Why do you think Ptahor is called to the pharaoh?

7. Why does Sinuhe continue to give Nefernefernefer all he possesses? Why can he not pull himself away from her? What is her appeal to Sinuhe? What is his behavior a metaphor for?

8. What does Minea bring to Sinuhe? What does she restore in his life? Why is she an important character to his life and to his healing?

9. What message do Sinuhe's parents leave behind for him? How does this make him feel? How do his parents die? Why do they do this?

10. Sinuhe speaks of a remedy from the Hittites that cures the body of heat. What is this remedy called today? How do you think the Hittites created this drug?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

When Sinuhe opens a skull what is usually the outcome? Why is this considered good? How do the people view his work? Is his work making progress throughout the novel? How?

Essay Topic 3

What do you think of the way Kaptah steals from Sinuhe? Judging from Sinuhe's reaction to this knowledge, what does this say about their relationship and the the relationship between all slaves and owners in Egypt? Give examples from the novel of Kaptah's business dealings with Sinuhe's money.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,435 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample