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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 job does Aziz hope to obtain?

2. What is the visitor's real profession?

3. What holy holiday is approaching in "Silence"?

4. How does Zahra treat her servants?

5. Who takes Zahra to a fortune teller?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Roukia is locked in the cellar?

2. What happens to Zahra's wool spinning business?

3. What causes the falling out between Zahra and her sister in Chapter 5?

4. What is the nightly ritual Roukia preforms? How does it help the family?

5. Describe the visitor in the story "Dinner in the Black Market".

6. What do the husbands discover about visitor at the end of the story?

7. How do the two sisters in "Silence" react to Ramadan?

8. What offer does one man make to the other in "The Discontented" and what is the man's response to the offer?

9. Why does the one sister smile at the end of "Silence"?

10. Who is the surprise guest in "A Vacation" and how does Roukia react to the visitor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the genres of fiction and non-fiction. Which genre does this book fall? How does narration cloud the reader's understanding of fiction and non-fiction?

Essay Topic 2

Identify the plot and subplot in "Dinner in the Black Market". Be sure to provide the definitions for both terms in your answer. How does Abu Zayd effectively keep the reader engaged without confusing them?

Essay Topic 3

Who is Zahra's faqih (note the spelling of faqih) and what role does he play in her life choices ?

(see the answer keys)

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