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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 acted as the official notary of the armada, according to Mustafa?

2. Which part of his own body did Señor Dorantes use in order to handle Mustafa when he was considering whether to make a purchase?

3. Mustafa states that he is writing the account that makes up the pages of the book how long after the events transpired?

4. What crime did several men from the expedition commit once they had abducted young women from the mound?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does the motif of water enter the story of Mustafa's birth, as related in Chapter 2: "The Story of My Birth"?

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

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

4. How old was Mustafa when his father first shared with him his plans for Mustafa's future career and what details did he share?

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

6. In what way did Mustafa again undergo a name change when he was purchased by Señor Dorantes? What significance does he now find in this change?

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

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

9. Mustafa's memory of being purchased by Señor Dorantes primarily involves which of the five senses? In what way?

10. What major plot development involving "nearly thirty men" (127) occurs by the fifth day of the armada's march toward Aute?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the motif of sound treated within The Moor's Account and how does its treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 2

What ultimate message is Lalami sending about the true history of the United States?

Essay Topic 3

Choose an object from The Moor's Account, such as the tattoo, the standard, the scroll, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

(see the answer keys)

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