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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. What instrument does Ahmad play expertly?

2. What does Amina ask God to forgive her husband for when she helps wash him after he gets home?

3. What is the name of the haughty and flirtatious woman who comes to Ahmad's store after the matchmaker?

4. What is on a provocative poster that Kamal looks at along with the shrine of al-Husayn?

5. What does Amina see as her sign of dedication for her husband?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Aisha's beauty regimine described in the book?

2. How does Ahmad react when a matchmaker hints that Mme. Nafusa wanted to be his second wife?

3. What does Amina help her husband with when he comes home drunk at midnight every night?

4. How are Kamal's "story hungry" actions described in Chapter 9?

5. How does the family react to Ahmad's announcement that Aisha cannot marry in Chapter 26?

6. How does Yasin prowl for women in Chapter 12?

7. How is Amina's mother described when she goes to stay with her during her exile?

8. How does Ahmad react to Shaykh Mutawalli's claim that he is an adulterer in Chapter 7?

9. How are Ahmad's actions at a party where he hires Zubayda to sing described?

10. What is the nature of Yasin's complaints about his mother when he visits Ahmad in Chapter 17?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much of the end of the book focuses on the nature of Egyptian politics and the nationalist movement happening in 1919.

Part 1.) What is the nature of the nationalist movement in Cairo in 1919?

Part 2.) What does the reader learn about the nationalist movement from Fahmy's speeches in the book?

Part 3.) What role does the British troops' presence in the book in regards to the nationalist movement?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the role fate plays in the lives of Ahmad's children who refuse to argue with his rules, especially about marriage. What is telling of Aisha based on her decision to leave being married up to fate?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the role that superstition plays in Amina's life and the connections they have to her pious faith. What is telling of Amina's faith based on her superstitious rituals and speeches in the book?

(see the answer keys)

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