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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. What does the passage about the cheap nickel jewelry reveal about Bakha?
(a) His poverty is the main thing that keeps him from dressing as he really wants to.
(b) His disinterest in Indian culture is a result of his outcaste status rather than his exposure to English culture.
(c) He secretly admires the bright, cheerful manner in which many caste Hindus dress.
(d) His fascination with the English has ruined for him some of the things he loved as a child.

2. Besides his hockey skills and sense of humor, what is Havildar Charat Singh well-known for?
(a) His constipation.
(b) His handsomeness.
(c) His kindness.
(d) His hemorrhoids.

3. What is a "sepoy" (5)?
(a) A rag-seller.
(b) An Indian soldier.
(c) A town official.
(d) A temple priest.

4. Why does Bahka not immediately apologize when he is accused of bumping the man in the street?
(a) He does not think he really bumped the man.
(b) He thinks the idea of ritual pollution is ridiculous.
(c) He is paralyzed with fear.
(d) He does not hear what the man is saying, at first.

5. What British brand of cigarettes do Bakha and his friends smoke?
(a) Weights and Navy.
(b) Red-Lamp.
(c) Old Gold.
(d) Lucky Strike.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Bakha's uncle tell him when he first said that he wanted to be a "sahib" (30)?

2. Who are the few men who come to the latrines wearing long white tunics and loose trousers?

3. What does the priest inside the temple do to indicate the beginning of services?

4. Who is the author of Untouchable?

5. What are the "jalebis" that Bakha buys in the market?

Short Essay Questions

1. Besides the accidental bumping, what seems to most offend the man and the crowd that gathers?

2. What rhetorical purpose is served by the long passage in which Pundit Kali Nath thinks about all of the foods he has recently eaten?

3. What is the "fashun" that Bakha and his friends adhere to, and why do they do it? (4)

4. What seems ironic to Bakha when he thinks about the reason that schools will not admit outcaste students?

5. Describe the job that Bakha does after he has cleaned all of the latrines twice.

6. On his way into town, how does Bakha light his cigarette, and what does this incident demonstrate about how his caste status impacts his beliefs about himself?

7. What does the description of the town as Bakha enters it emphasize, and how does this foreshadow what will happen later, when Bakha bumps into someone?

8. Describe the dynamic between Bakha and his friends.

9. When Bakha has the urge to run away from the man yelling at him in the street, why does he feel he cannot run?

10. What is implied by the narrator's description of how Bakha seems somehow allied with the fire?

(see the answer keys)

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