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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 does Salim's Moslem religion differ from pure Arabian religion?

2. What does Zabeth want Salim to do?

3. What does Ferdinand promise to do but does not do?

4. What does Father Huismans do almost immediately after the threat of war is over?

5. What does Salim remember as being outside his hometown?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Zabeth's business.

2. Give some details about Father Huismans' hobby.

3. What is everyone's perception of Raymond?

4. Describe the reunion of Salim and Indar.

5. Explain the change in the relationship between Salim and Metty.

6. For what is the President's complex to be used?

7. Describe what made Mahesh's wooden spoon venture a failure.

8. What happens to stop the impending threat of war in the area surrounding the town?

9. What is going through Salim's mind as he travels deeper into the interior?

10. What is the underlying mood of the villagers and what effect does it have on Ferdinand?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a two-page summary of A BEND IN THE RIVER. In your summary include only the major theme of the novel and the transformation of Salim from east coast living to his experiences in the town to his leaving at the end of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Take the old saying, "It takes one to know one," and compare it to the meeting of Indar and Mahesh and his wife, Shoba. In Chapter 6, Metty recognizes a slave girl when she keeps coming to the store looking for him. Write an essay about how people can spot the faults in others that they have in themselves.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of the novel, Salim is leaving the town and it is inferred he will return to London and marry Kareisha. The marriage arrangement was tacitly made years ago when Nazruddin sold his store in the town at a loss. Write your opinion of arranged marriages as opposed to the western way of dating before marriage.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 662 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample