View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Dina feel about the tailor's house hunting?

2. What does Dina lend to Rajaram when he wants to start his own business?

3. Whose idea was it that all four characters eat dinner together in Chapter 10?

4. Who do the police arrest in Chapter 16 for the murders of the beggars?

5. How does Dina react to Maneck's return?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Om and Maneck do during their vacation from work?

2. Why are the police called to Shankar's funeral?

3. How does the Beggarmaster know that he is related to Shankar?

4. How is Shankar killed?

5. Why does Dina lose her apartment?

6. How do the established workers at the relocation camp treat the newcomers?

7. Why does the Beggarmaster leave Shankar on the streets even after it is revealed that they are brothers?

8. What do Om and Ishvar see when they visit their old boss, Jeevan?

9. What living conditions do the tailors see when they are returning home on their first night of freedom, and how does the Beggarmaster explain it?

10. What does Dina do around the house when the tailors are off searching for a house, and how does she react when they return?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The "Emergency" is a very powerful force of destruction within the novel.

Part 1.) Briefly explain what the state of Emergency within the novel was.

Part 2.) Explain the catastrophic results this state of Emergency had on the lives of the main characters.

Part 3.) Explain why you think calling the situation an emergency was validated within the novel.

Essay Topic 2

When Maneck commits suicide at the end of the novel, his final thought is that he is happy to be holding the chess board. This thought is a bit ambiguous as to whether Maneck is feeling guilt, or if he is overwhelmed with the way that the world has turned out.

Part 1.) Argue what you believe to be the meaning to Maneck's final thoughts.

Part 2.) Argue why you think it was so important to Maneck that he is holding the chess board, especially after he spent years not taking care of it, or missing its presence.

Essay Topic 3

The societal structure set up in the novel is one of authority. It seems that most people want authority over others, and once they have it, find themselves exploiting it. Choose one relationship with the novel and explain how both authority and exploitation are large factors in the way that these two people relate. Does it seem that only one person is benefiting in the relationship, or is it possible to find a balance, even when exploitation is involved?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 747 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample