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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. Who did Mernissi go to for comfort at the end of the book after she realized that she and Samir would no longer be together as playmates?

2. What did Aunt Habiba tell Samir and Mernissi was the greatest gift that Allah had given them?

3. What did Mernissi want to influence with her magic spells?

4. What color dress did Mernissi wear when she sang nationalist songs for her grandmother?

5. What was the one thing that Mernissi's mother and Lalla Radia, Samir's mother, agreed upon?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Mernissi's mother not allowed to go to literacy classes?

2. What were love glances and how did Chama use them successfully?

3. Why did the women of the harem believe that they had to look as ugly as possible during their beauty rituals?

4. What was Mernissi's father's attitude about her mother's beauty rituals?

5. What did Mernissi like about the way Mina danced?

6. Why was Samir thrown out of the women's hamman?

7. How did Lalla Mani prepare her face mask made of dates?

8. How did Mina help Mernissi get out of the olive jar when she was stuck?

9. What was Mernissi's reaction when she went up to the forbidden terrace?

10. What did the grownups think that children should know about violence?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What world event did Malika misinform Mernissi and Samir about? How did they react to protect themselves? Did Mernissi's mother approve?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the progress in women's rights that Mernissi witnessed during her childhood. Why did Chama think that her generation of women were being sacrificed? What change regarding dress did Mernissi's mother put into effect that changed her life for the better?

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?

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