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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. How old is Ram Charan's sister?

2. What instruction does Charat Singh give Bakha about the hockey stick?

3. What do both Bakha's earlier dreams and his experience at the wedding demonstrate about him?

4. What is Bakha asking for when he shouts up at the houses from the street?

5. What does Charat Singh have that is "mounted with gold" (91)?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the younger of the babu's sons end up getting injured?

2. What puzzles Bakha about his having had the courage to ask a sentry for the solar topee when he was a child, and why does it puzzle him?

3. Why do all of the sepoys and local children long to own the solar topee?

4. Despite his hunger, how does Bakha end up too nauseated to eat the food his brother brings home?

5. How does Bakha react to Chota's suggestion that the friends "catch hold" of the priest one day (84)?

6. How does Chota react differently to Bakha's stories about the priest and the woman at the alley house?

7. Even before Charat Singh gives Bakha the hockey stick, what does he do that causes Bakha to feel very honored?

8. What characteristics of Rakha does the narrator stress in the description of him coming home from the barracks with food?

9. What surprises Bakha about the hockey stick Charat Singh gives him, and how does he react?

10. What game does Bakha remember playing with his friends and Ram Charan's sister when they were young children?

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 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 3

Write an essay that analyzes Untouchable's message about hope. Consider the characterization of Bakha as well as the novel's action. Give special consideration to the novel's final pages. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

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