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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 are the policemen not included in the plan in Chapter 22?

2. What organization is formed around the monkey controversy?

3. What does Sampath do about the monkeys in Chapter 15?

4. What do the two factions who oppose each other about the monkeys do?

5. What is Sampath trying to do in Chapter 17 with which he is having a problem?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mr. Chawla want to do with his money from Sampath’s fame? What does Sampath say about the idea?

2. What new town official arrives in Chapter 20? Who his new assistant, and what does his assistant tell him?

3. What brings the monkeys back into the limelight in Chapter 18, and what makes the community fear them?

4. What happens that causes Sampath to lose control of the monkeys, and what do the monkeys do?

5. What is Kulfi searching for in Chapter 17? What are some of her ideas, and where does she go to look for it?

6. What do the two factions who disagree about the monkey problem do? What does Miss Jyotsna do, and how do Amma and Pinky feel about the monkey situation?

7. What happens at the first proposal meeting at the DC’s residence?

8. What happens when the three men with plans for the monkey problem ask Sampath for his blessing?

9. What are the three plans that Verma, the Chief Medical Officer and the Brigadier come up with to solve the monkey problem?

10. What worries Kulfi about Sampath in Chapter 21, and what does she plan to do about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pinky is struggling with her life. She is trying to cope with a domineering father and a mother who has virtually abandoned her.

Discuss the ways in which Pinky’s life has been made both better and worse by her brother’s move to the orchard and his growing fame. Do you think Kulfi is aware enough to realize her daughter might feel abandoned?

Essay Topic 2

At the wedding party, Sampath attempts to find a new identity and leave his old, unhappy life behind him. By mooning his boss and the wedding guests, Sampath is showing his true feelings about them--that is, total disregard.

Why do you think Sampath chooses the wedding as the starting point for his rebellion against his life? How might a wedding be symbolic of a new start for Sampath? Do you think his method of demonstrating how he feels about his boss and the guests at the wedding is immature? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Often, authors will write about what they know, so sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting.

Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Kiran Desai. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Desai's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Desai's probable agenda concerning that idea.

(see the answer keys)

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