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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 Sheik Darwish live?

2. Why were Zaita's parents happy when he was born?

3. What does Kirsha blame himself for his wife's behavior?

4. How much older is Mrs. Afify than her prospective husband?

5. What do Hussain Kirsha's modern friends have that he envies?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mrs. Kirsha go to Radwan Hussainy to complain of her husband's behavior?

2. Waiting for the boy with whom he has become acquainted, Kirsha suffers the "bitterness of victory." What is the bitterness of victory?

3. What does Radwan Hussainy say can defeat all of life's tragedies?

4. Why does Ibrahim Faraj refrain from having sex with Hamida?

5. How do Hamida and her friends feel about the Jewish girls that work in Cairo?

6. Why does Radwan Hussainy feel guilty for the wrongdoing of Dr. Booshy and Zaita?

7. What change takes place in Kirsha's cafe in Chapter One and what does this change represent?

8. What is the difference between the way Abbas feels about Midaq Alley and the way Hussain Kirsha feels?

9. How does Hamida feel about questions of morality?

10. How long as Hamida been gone when Abbas comes home, and what efforts have been made to find her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Women in Midaq Alley have very limited spheres of action. What can they do to improve their situations? Consider their access to health care, education, employment, and marriage prospects.

Essay Topic 2

In Midaq Alley, many behaviors, such as smoking hashish, assaulting a spouse, bribing people to vote for a candidate, and maiming human beings, are tolerated that would be illegal under other circumstances. What is it about the alley that keeps reprehensible conduct from being punished? Does it seem to you that such laxity is part of the general culture or specific to the low level of economic and educational well-being that is seen in Midaq Alley? Use evidence from the text to support your position.

Essay Topic 3

There is often a difference between what a character says and what we are told the character actually thinks. Analyze at least two circumstances in which this is true. Discuss probable reasons why the characters do not speak frankly to one another.

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