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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. Where does Mina recall meeting the writer unofficially some years earlier?

2. What does the unnamed writer say when a reader asks what his biggest losses from the worst years of the AIDS crisis were?

3. Why does seeing the writer frightened and battered in Moria feel disorienting to Mina?

4. What skill does Mina have that makes her particularly valuable in dealing with refugees?

5. What does Francine remind Mina she is in Lesbos to do at the very end of Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the writer write about in "How to Make Liberace Jealous"?

2. In "You, the Nervous Wreck," what does Mina say is the influence of the writer's work on her decisions?

3. In "You Made Me Do It," who encourages Mina to write about her experiences and why?

4. Why is Mina's being a woman significant in her work as a doctor with the refugees?

5. In what way does Mina remember her mother loving herself and her siblings?

6. Why is Mina estranged from her parents and siblings except for Mazen?

7. Why does Francine not like Emma?

8. Whose betrayal hurt Mina more than that of her parents?

9. What does Mina buy for the children in "The Little Rascals Go to Camp" and how does this turn out?

10. In "How to Become a Westerner," how does Rania Kassem find herself again?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do you think Alameddine is trying to reveal to the reader at the many points in the novel in which he points out Western - and particularly American - apathy towards refugees from other parts of the world, especially the Middle East? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Mina become so emotionally involved with Sumaiya, and what does Alameddine reveal about the particularities of a doctor-patient relationship in a refugee setting through these two characters? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What complications about the motivations and goals of the aid workers on Lesbos does Alameddine reveal throughout the novel? What are some of the different and opposing perspectives different characters, including Emma, Rasheed, and Mina take about the aid workers? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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