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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What principle does Saeed Hasan say a man should put first when he is looking for a wife?
(a) Suitability.
(b) Reciprocity.
(c) Faithfulness.
(d) Moderation.

2. In what year do Part II, Chapters 1-4 take place?
(a) 1927.
(b) 1919.
(c) 1911.
(d) 1903.

3. As Mir Nihal hurries to Babban Jan's on Friday night, what does he hear both a song and a poem about?
(a) Old age.
(b) Love.
(c) Death.
(d) Faith.

4. Who is the poet who wrote the words to the song that Gul Bano sings?
(a) Bahadur Shah.
(b) Mir Taqi Mir.
(c) Mir Babar Ali Anis.
(d) Ghalib.

5. What does the Part II, Chapter 5 description of Red Beard stress?
(a) His boisterousness.
(b) His gentleness.
(c) His unattractiveness.
(d) His dignity.

Short Answer Questions

1. What hobbies does Mir Nihal pursue in Chapter 5?

2. When Begam Nihal is asked to tell the story of the Mutiny, the word "Farangis" is used (6). What does this word mean?

3. To what animal does the narrator compare the city of Delhi in the story's opening pages?

4. While Asghar and Begam Waheed are talking about their childhood, what can Asghar hear in the background?

5. When Begam Nihal tells her husband that he can buy more pigeons to replace those that have died, how does he react?

Short Essay Questions

1. What contrast do Begam Jamal and Begam Nihal make between the processions held by Mughal emperors and their expectations for the procession about to be held by the English?

2. When Asghar sees the sad-looking old man on the street, what realization does he have about his own life, and why?

3. What is Begam Nihal's objection to Bilqeece's family?

4. Who is Hameed, and what light does Asghar think Hameed's situation throws on his own?

5. What suggestion does Begam Jamal make to Begam Nihal about Asghar?

6. What does Begam Nihal tease her husband about when she calls him in to talk with him about Asghar and Bilqeece?

7. What does the reader learn in Chapter 3 about Mir Nihal's real reason for working at the lace shop, and how does this shed light on his feelings about his family?

8. What does Khwaja Ashraf Ali notice about Mir Nihal on Thursday, and why does he react the way he reacts when he learns the cause, on Friday?

9. At the end of Chapter 6, what ironic contrast does the narrator describe between what is happening in the Nihal house and the music they can hear coming from outside the house?

10. What did the ironsmith teach Mir Nihal to find, and how did he teach him to find it?

(see the answer keys)

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