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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. Why did Mernissi's father make the harem's youth stay with him on his brother's farm during the summer holidays?

2. Where did the women on Tazi's farm do the dishes in the summer?

3. What rank did Lalla Thor have on Grandfather Tazi's farm?

4. What foreign language could Tamou speak fluently?

5. What did Mernissi's mother like to do in order to eat dinner alone with her family?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mernissi describe the French soldiers who patrolled the streets outside her house?

2. Describe Yasmina's appearance.

3. Describe Aunt Habiba's room.

4. How did Grandfather Tazi try and persuade Yasmina to stop calling her duck Thor after his first wife?

5. What did the women of the harem do so they could listen to the radio?

6. Why does Mernissi call Aunt Habiba the "high priestess of imagination"?

7. Why did Lalla Radia believe that harems were wonderful?

8. Why did Mernissi admire Asmahan?

9. Why did the women of the farm harem decide to wash the dishes in the river?

10. What part of communal life did Mernissi's mother hate the most?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why did Mernissi fear the French soldiers as a young child? What did she and Samir witness regarding the soldiers that had a negative effect on them? Why does Mernissi say the French were greedy?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Mernissi's mother's search for happiness. In her restricted world, what choices did she make to try and improve her life? What did she tell her daughter about happiness?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Yasmina's view of harems. What did she dislike about being in a harem? How did she view her co-wives? How did she provide comfort to wives who felt lonely?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 854 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample