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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. How old is the strange man in the village the narrator is curious about?

2. What did Mustafa suffer from?

3. What does the narrator's father do when he has tea with his family again?

4. Who did Bint Mazjoub tell stories of?

5. What does the narrator tell his family about the Europeans?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the narrator feel about being back in his old village after being gone for seven years?

2. What do you know about the legendary flooding of the Nile described in the book?

3. How do the narrator and Mustafa first meet and what do they learn about each other?

4. What happened to Mustafa when he meets a man on horseback?

5. What happened on the train one day, when the narrator works at the Department of Education in Khartoum?

6. What was left for the narrator after Mustafa disappears?

7. Which woman did Mustafa meet at a party in Chelsea and what happened to her?

8. What do you know about the narrator's grandfather as a person?

9. What is being said about Western women during a conversation at the grandfather's house?

10. Does Mustafa Sa'eed become an obsession for the narrator?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

An important part in "Season of Migration to the North" is the difference between the Western and the African culture. While reading, you learn a lot about the African culture. Give a few examples from the book about African life. Think about the narrator's arrival and stay in the village to describe tribal life. How does the African culture differ from the American culture? Compare and contrast African and American life.

Essay Topic 2

The triangular room is mentioned throughout the book. What is this room? Why is it important? Whose room is it? What does the narrator have to do with this room? What happens to the room? What are the contents in this room? What does the narrator do in this room? What does he see and what is his reaction? What does he relate the pictures of the women to? How is Jean Morris' death related to Hosna's death? How does the narrator leave the room? Why is his being in the room important to the conclusion of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Mustafa's widow and the narrator have a complicated relationship. How would you describe their relationship? Why is it complicated? Why are the complicated issues not resolved? How does this relation influence the life of both characters? How would you resolve a similar situation?

(see the answer keys)

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