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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 has Bakha successfully taught himself from the book he bought?

2. What habit of Indian people in this time period was the basis of a derogatory description used by the British soldiers?

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

4. What finally rouses Bakha from his bed at the beginning of the book?

5. How old is Bakha?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the conditions in which Bakha's family lives.

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Describe Bakha's father.

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

10. What work do Bakha and his family do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you consider the significance of including Gandhi as a character in Untouchable while omitting any mention of B. R. Ambedkar. Do you think it is possible that Anand was unaware of Ambedkar? If so, what does this say about Anand's devotion to the cause of Scheduled Caste people? How does this relate to questions about representation? If Anand was aware of Ambedkar, what might his motivations have been for including Gandhi instead of Ambedkar? How does this relate to questions about audience? How does this choice impact the novel's theme? Consider these questions at minimum as you advance and defend your claim.

Essay Topic 2

Now that you have finished Untouchable, you know that the novel's final section becomes much more explicit in its analysis of Hinduism. Write an essay in which you explicate the ideas about Hinduism discussed in the novel's final pages. Then, offer an analysis of the relationship between these ideas and the earlier parts of Bakha's story. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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