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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. At the start of Chapter 6: "The Story of the Sale," Mustafa states that his family's happiness in Azemmur came to an end in what year "of the Hegira" (77)?

2. With no evidence to support his claim, in Chapter 5: "The Story of the March," Señor Narváez claims that it will take the armada how many days to reach the kingdom of Apalache?

3. For how many ducats did Señor Bernardo Rodriguez purchase Mustafa at the slave market in Seville?

4. When Mustafa joined a small party going ashore to scope out the area, in what type of vessels did they travel from the ship to the shore?

5. Once a particular character ordered that the Indians be locked in the storehouse, he called for what weapon to be brought to him?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Which member of Mustafa's family died shortly before Mustafa sold himself into slavery to feed his family?

3. For what reason did the happiness of Mustafa and his family move?

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

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

6. What are the reasons behind Mustafa's desire to record his own account of the expedition led by Senor Narvaez?

7. In what way does Lalami depict the theme of family bonds within Chapter 5: "The Story of the March"?

8. Provide evidence for the conclusion that Mustafa at times willfully accepted blame for acts over which he had no control.

9. What does the caftan symbolize within Chapter 4: "The Story of Aemmur"?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Lalami’s use of the motif of sound within the novel The Moor's Account.

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Lalami in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of The Moor's Account. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Lalami’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Lalami's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different locations in a particular way within the text of The Moor's Account.

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