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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 is one of Nima's favorite singers?

2. How do Nima and her mother travel to the hospital in Part II?

3. What does Nima fantasize would have become of her father if he had lived?

4. Who is Nima's best friend?

5. Who is in the hospital in the end of Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Nima tell her mother is really wrong with her in "Ghosts"?

2. Why does Khaltu Hala give Nima a pearl ring?

3. In "America," what does the girl who comes to Nima's apartment to work on a math project tell their peers at school?

4. What does Nima use to imagine Aisha's life before she herself was born?

5. What is one major factor Haitham and Nima have in common?

6. Why does Aisha name Nima "Nima" instead of "Yasmeen" ?

7. In "Haitham" (pg. 43), what does Mama Fatheya tell Nima and Haitham about loud singing after sundown?

8. Why do Nima and Aisha go to the hospital in "The Bus"?

9. What does Mama Fatheya tell Nima about her own birth in "Calling Haitham"?

10. In "Yasmeen," (pgs. 12 - 13), how does Nima imagine the fictional Yasmeen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does Elhillo assign to Mama Fatheya in terms of plot development in the early stages of the novel, and why do you think Elhillo does this? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How and why is Nima able to alter the entire trajectory of hers and Aisha's lives by visiting the past and intervening at a critical moment in her parents' life? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Why is the yellow dress such a powerful symbol of love, affection, and inter-generational solitude between Nima and Aisha? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 656 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample