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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. Besides his hockey skills and sense of humor, what is Havildar Charat Singh well-known for?

2. What does Sohini eventually admit to her brother the priest did to her?

3. What habit of the British soldiers did Bakha find "Disgraceful" (12)?

4. Why does Rakha not come inside when their father has Sohini call him in?

5. What does the street urchin accuse Bakha of?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is insincere about Bakha's offer to rub his father's side with oil?

3. Which habits of Indian people does Bakha find crude and unsophisticated?

4. What work do Bakha and his family do?

5. What mixture of feelings does Bakha have about Sohini as they make their way home from the temple?

6. How does the incident with the crowd in the street draw to a close, finally?

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

8. How does Bakha feel as he enters the temple courtyard, and why does he have these feelings?

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

10. What seeming contradictions does Bakha notice in the treatment of cows?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the symbolic value of hockey in conjunction with the text's thematic concern with the effects of British rule in India. How does Bakha's involvement in hockey and its impacts on his life support the larger thematic concern with the British Raj? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you analyze Untouchable as a circadian novel. Which elements of the novel might be de-emphasized or even omitted in a novel that takes place over a longer time frame? How does the inclusion and emphasis of these elements help shape the reader's understanding of the novel's meaning? How is the reader's empathy for the novel's characters affected by its circadian form? How does the time frame of the novel affect the reader's perception of the problems Bakha faces? How does it impact the reader's faith in the potential solutions offered near the novel's end? Support your assertions with evidence from the text; if you use outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

At the time that Untouchable was published, it was hailed as a remarkably unbiased depiction of a Scheduled Caste main character. Now that some time has passed and understanding of prejudice has evolved, does the novel's narrative voice still seem prejudice-free--or does the narrator actually exhibit some biases against Scheduled Caste people? Write an essay that takes and defends a position on this issue. Support your assertions with evidence from the text; if you use outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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