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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 long was the trip to Lahore?

2. At what Italian station was Duffill left behind?

3. What famous military leader seized control of Bayezid in 1402?

4. What Russian writer did Theroux read on the trip in Chapter 7?

5. To what did Theroux compare the forests of Madhya Pradesh?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Theroux find it insane that people were attending an American literature conference in Ceylon?

2. Describe the English engineer's (encountered in Chapter 5) experiences with women.

3. What was the Indian professor's view of Mr. Gopal's ignorance?

4. Why did Theroux have an early childhood fascination with train travel?

5. Why had Sadik still not taken a pilgrimage to Mecca when he met Theroux in Chapter 4?

6. In Theroux's view, how did the strictures of Islam affect Pakistani men?

7. Why was Mr. Radia, with whom Theroux spoke in Chapter 10, so cynical about the English?

8. What were Theroux's impressions of the alleged tombs of Cain and Abel?

9. Describe Mr. Gopal, the embassy liaison man showing the tourist sites to Theroux in Chapter 11.

10. What is the primary lesson about India's future that Theroux took from his nighttime wanderings around Bombay?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In his travels through Japan, Theroux found the Japanese had a fondness for violent pornography and attributed this to the fact that the Japanese were overworked and too tried to think about actually having sex. Do you think this is an accurate assumption? What historical experiences or social traditions could encourage an acceptance of violent pornography? Does this attraction provide any deep insight into the Japanese character? Unlike in some of the traditional societies visited by Theroux, Japan seemed open to the idea of women working. Did the obsession with pornography say anything about relations between men and women in Japan?

Essay Topic 2

In Vietnam, Theroux wrote that his impression of American involvement had been doomed because we had no intention of staying. Therefore, we never developed a vision of what kind of nation we would leave behind, and the Vietnamese emerged damaged and abandoned. Do you believe the U.S. could have achieved its objectives had we remained in the country for a longer period of time? What responsibility did Theroux suggest a nation had to stay and rebuild another nation after involving itself in a military mission?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout many of the countries Theroux visited for the book, there were many brothels and prostitutes available. Was this a unique phenomenon of Asian societies or was the prostitution simply more out in the open than in Western societies? Did prostitution seem more acceptable in the countries visited by Theroux? Did the greater availability to brothels suggest different cultural attitudes toward the world's oldest profession?

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