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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. Who is Harish-Harry?

2. How were Sai's parents killed?

3. Why is Gyan conflicted about his relationship with Sai?

4. Where does a co-worker take Biju when his character is first introduced?

5. After Gyan and Sai's first meeting, why does the cook think it strange that Gyan is Nepalese?

Short Essay Questions

1. In chapter 8, why is Jemu so determined to reject his father's traditional Indian customs by refusing to throw the coconut overboard?

2. What effect does Saeed Saeed have on Biju in chapter 14?

3. In chapter 4, why do Sai and the cook justify the manner in which the police treated the cook?

4. How does Sai's having attended a Catholic school impact her identity in terms of the people around her?

5. What does the first chapter reveal about the social structures that exist between the introductory characters?

6. As described in chapter 12, what is the difference between the effects of Catholic school on Sai and Noni?

7. In chapter 10, why do you think Biju is the only immigrant he knows who seriously considers returning home one day?

8. In chapter 5, what is the symbolism of the two-level restaurants with basement kitchens where Biju works?

9. In chapter 28, how does Jemu's family's reaction to him upon his return from England contrast with his expectations?

10. In chapter 3, why doesn't Bijou consider himself a man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Biju is scammed into paying to travel to Kathmandu for a training session, he witnesses a butcher calling a goat by the worst swear words imaginable before killing it. How do the butcher's actions symbolize those of the scammers? In what way is the scam itself complicated and ritualized, and how is the end result the same for Biju as it is for the goat? Why do you think the author chose a goat, as opposed to another type of animal?

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the fact that there are a number of characters who behave like the British, but there are no actual British characters specifically mentioned in the novel? Why are they so totally absent, and what is the end result of their absence for the characters who've tried to emulate them? At the end of the novel, do you think life is better for the Anglicized characters or those who view themselves purely as Indians, and why? Use examples of specific characters.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think the novel is entitled The Inheritance of Loss? Which characters in the book have suffered losses? Do you think "inheritance" refers strictly to losses carried over from the characters' ancestors, or are the losses inherited from some larger truth or influence?

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