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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Señor Bernardo Rodriguez was forced to sell Mustafa, whom he called Esteban, due to debts incurred in what way?
(a) Gambling.
(b) Unpaid taxes.
(c) Embezzlement.
(d) Agricultural investments.

2. What secret did Mustafa keep from his family, as revealed in Chapter 6: "The Story of the Sale"?
(a) The injury to his hand.
(b) The loss of his employment.
(c) The death of his wife.
(d) The loss of his scholarship.

3. How many Castilians were killed in the Battle of the Río Oscuro depicted in Chapter 3: "The Story of the Illusion"?
(a) 12.
(b) 3.
(c) 24.
(d) 5.

4. Mustafa's second master, Señor Dorantes, called Mustafa by what name?
(a) Estania.
(b) Estebanico.
(c) Ludovico.
(d) Ferrer.

5. Mustafa recalls that "By the fifth day of the march to Aute," (122) how many men had to be transported by horse due to illness?
(a) Nearly 30.
(b) Nearly 50.
(c) Nearly 90.
(d) Nearly 20.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what type of room did Mustafa sleep when he was enslaved by Señor Bernardo Rodriguez?

2. Under what type of tree did the Castilians pile the 15 dead Indians who were killed at the battle of the Río Oscuro?

3. When Mustafa uses the term "Castilians," (3) he is referring to natives of which country?

4. Zainab was which female member of Mustafa's family with whom he lived in Azemmur?

5. Many members of the expedition realized that they were hopelessly lost when they followed which natural feature "all the way to the ocean," but find "only a wide and shallow bay" (68)?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Señor Ruíz come to lose an eye during the march toward Aute?

2. What element of the marriage between Dorotea and Bernardo Rodriguez does Mustafa name as the secret to its success?

3. What is the setting presented by Mustafa in Chapter 1: "The Story of La Florida"?

4. What change occurred in the personality of Mustafa's father and what caused the change?

5. Discuss an instance when Lalami uses an unconventional metaphor within the text.

6. Who is Estabanico and how does the narrator feel about the name?

7. Who were the main leaders of the expedition to La Florida? Name one fact about each leader.

8. How did Mustafa react to his father's plans for Mustafa's future career?

9. In what way does Lalami include the theme of invisibility in the Prologue of the novel?

10. Discuss a scene Mustafa describes that would almost certainly not have appeared in the "Castilian gentlemen's" (3) official account?

(see the answer keys)

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