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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. Where does Aruna go to live in Chapter 9?

2. Where does Uma go to dinner with a relative?

3. Why does Papa come to where Uma is staying after she is married?

4. What does Mrs. Joshi say about the groom's family?

5. What stands in stark contrast to Uma's wedding plans?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Uma do one night when Mama and Papa have gone out?

2. How does Uma and her family learn that the prospective groom is not interested in Uma?

3. How does giving birth to a male child affect Mama's status?

4. How does Aruna feel about Uma's lack of marriage prospects?

5. What does Mira-Masi tell Uma one day about the mark of the Lord, and how does Uma react?

6. How do Aruna's wedding plans differ from those taken when Uma was to marry?

7. Who does Uma call in Chapter 9, and what is the outcome?

8. What does Uma feel about the time she fell into the Ganges and was sinking?

9. How do Uma and Aruna feel about Anamika's engagement?

10. Why does Uma sneak out of the house one day?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Chapter 6 makes very clear the questionable prospects of young girls who are married off to seemingly suitable husbands. Anamika's fate is sealed at the hands of her abusive husband and mother-in-law. She cannot leave the marriage because leaving would bring shame on her own family according to Indian culture. Even Uma notes the irony in the situation that the beautiful and gifted Anamika, to whom life has always been kind, suffers a miserable fate, even more miserable than the suffocating and hopeless existence lived by Uma.

a) Do you think arranged marriages should be legal? Why or why not? Use examples from Fasting, Feasting to support your answer.

b) Discuss the concept of family honor in the context of Anamika leaving her marriage. Use examples from Fasting, Feasting to support your answer.

c) Compare and contrast Anamika’s fate with Uma’s fate.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

a) Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in Fasting, Feasting.

b) Trace and analyze one major theme of Fasting, Feasting. How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

c) Trace and analyze two secondary themes of this book. How are the themes represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

a) Who is/are the protagonists of Fasting, Feasting, and how do you determine this?

b) Who is/are the antagonists of Fasting, Feasting, and how do you determine this?

c) Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot of Fasting, Feasting?

d) Are any of the characters in Fasting, Feasting dispensable? If so, which ones? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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