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

2. What word does Bakha use to refer to British soldiers?

3. What does the street urchin accuse Bakha of?

4. What British brand of cigarettes do Bakha and his friends smoke?

5. How does Bakha feel when he observes the services taking place inside the temple?

Short Essay Questions

1. What altercation does Sohini get into at the well, and why does it happen?

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

3. What work do Bakha and his family do?

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

5. 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?

6. Describe Bakha's initial reaction to the man who accuses him of bumping him on the street.

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

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

9. Describe Bakha's morning before he leaves his family's house.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

You have written briefly about one passage of Untouchable that contains symbolism related to fire. Now, expand the scope of your analysis to include the entire text of the novel. What other references to fire, heat, and burning can you find? Would you include the heat from the sun in this category, or is there good reason to exclude it? How do the further references to fire, heat, and burning expand your understanding of the symbolism? What does the symbolism convey to the reader about Bakha and the novel's meaning? Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

What is the relationship between Bakha's desire for an education and his individuality? Do other outcastes in his community seem to yearn for education as he does? What is the source of his yearning? What does his desire to be educated say about him as a person? Certainly, expanded access to knowledge and the written word may increase his satisfaction with life. But what other consequences might it have? Consider how an education would likely change him and his relationships, what time taken and money paid for lessons would mean as far as the distribution of family resources and responsibilities, and to what degree either Bakha or his community might benefit from him obtaining an education. Support your assertions with evidence from the text; if you use outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that explores Anand's use of paradox and irony to convey messages about "cleanliness" and "purity." How does he employ the devices as he explores these themes, and what messages, specifically, is he trying to convey? Offer both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text in support of your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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