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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mir Nihal do to pass the time while he is stuck in bed following his stroke?
(a) He traps rats.
(b) He reads.
(c) He writes poetry.
(d) He talks with Ghafoor.

2. What does Bilqeece believe is wrong in her relationship with Asghar, as described in Part III?
(a) There are too many members of her family living with them.
(b) It is natural for husband and wife to grow apart over time.
(c) He is ashamed that he cannot provide more for her.
(d) She must have done something wrong and made him angry.

3. What government action is the subject of the popular slogan that Asghar sees written in several places?
(a) The Government of India Act.
(b) The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
(c) The declaration of martial law in the Punjab.
(d) The Rowlatt Acts.

4. In Part III, Chapter 5, who gets Asghar a job?
(a) His father-in-law.
(b) His father.
(c) His brother.
(d) His best friend.

5. What does Asghar tell Begam Shahbaz when she tells him that he needs to show Bilqeece more affection?
(a) He says that Bilqeece is telling lies about him and he threatens to divorce her.
(b) He says that Begam Shahbaz is just lonely and jealous and that she should mind her own business.
(c) He says that both Began Shahbaz and Bilqeece should remember who is the master of the house.
(d) He says that he is not that kind of person, and that Began Shahbaz knew this when she let her daughter marry him.

6. Who overhears the discussion between Begam Nihal and Asghar about his wish to marry Zohra?
(a) The Hunchbacked Aunt.
(b) Anjum Zamani.
(c) Begam Jamal.
(d) Dilchain.

7. What item among the bath things sent by Bilqeece's family is unfamiliar to the women in Asghar's family?
(a) The soap case.
(b) The hairbrush.
(c) The toothbrush.
(d) The tooth brushing powder.

8. When Jehan Ara is teething and fussy, what does Asghar accuse his wife of?
(a) Being uneducated.
(b) Neglecting him.
(c) Behaving like a child.
(d) Hurting the child.

9. What does Bilqeece's family mix with the hand-washing water that the men of the Nihal family use after the wedding feast?
(a) Flower petals.
(b) Kerosene.
(c) Dye powder.
(d) Attar.

10. When Asghar is speaking with Begam Nihal about Zohra in Part IV, what does he notice about his parents' home?
(a) They still have no English furnishings.
(b) It has changed little from his childhood.
(c) It is dirty and neglected.
(d) It is smaller than he remembers.

11. Why does the narrator call Hindu's "lucky" during the pandemic (169)?
(a) They do not need to bury their dead.
(b) They have greater access to medicine and doctors.
(c) They are mostly spared from the disease.
(d) So many of them have already died in the war.

12. What happens shortly after Bilqeece gives birth to her daughter?
(a) Bundoo offers Asghar a business opportunity.
(b) Mirza Shahbaz Beg dies.
(c) Begam Waheed comes to live with Bilqeece and Ashgar.
(d) Ghafoor marries a fourteen-year-old girl.

13. How old is Jehan Ara at the beginning of Part III, Chapter 10?
(a) Five.
(b) Four.
(c) Three.
(d) Two.

14. What does Bilqeece make Begam Shahbaz promise her in Part III, Chapter 10?
(a) To take care of Jehan Ara after her death.
(b) To make sure that Asghar does not remarry after her death.
(c) To demand payment from Asghar's family if she should die.
(d) To stop buying charms to try to prevent her death.

15. In the book's final line, what is night said to cover up "in its blanket of darkness and gloom" (200)?
(a) "God's creation and His plans."
(b) The "fortunes and misfortunes of Hindustan."
(c) "Mir Nihal's fragmented dreams."
(d) The "empires of the world."

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Part III, Chapter 6 say that "strange people" begun appearing from, changing the language and culture of Delhi (144)?

2. How old is Zohra in Part IV, Chapter 5?

3. What is foreshadowed by the epigraph that prefaces Part IV?

4. About how many people attend the actual wedding ceremony between Asghar and Bilqeece?

5. How old was Begam Nihal when she married Mir Nihal?

(see the answer keys)

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