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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 does Biju take a job at the Ghandi Cafe?

2. How were Sai's parents killed?

3. With whom does Biju get into a fight at work?

4. What do many of the people from Bengal begin to desire?

5. What do the police examine at the cook's home?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the elaborate Christmas celebration in chapter 25?

2. In chapter 22, what does it tell us about Biju when he leaves his job at Brigitte's and begins working at the Ghandi Cafe?

3. Why is Jemu's reaction to his wife's going through his things in chapter 28 so severe that he rapes her?

4. In chapter 8, why is Jemu so determined to reject his father's traditional Indian customs by refusing to throw the coconut overboard?

5. In chapter 3, why doesn't Bijou consider himself a man?

6. In chapter 9, in what way is Lola portrayed as a hypocrite?

7. In chapter 29, why does Gyan betray Sai?

8. In chapter 26, why does Gyan begin regretting the time he spent with Sai as he becomes part of the liberation?

9. In chapter 27, why does Sai have so much trouble relating to Gyan's ideas about a Gorkha homeland?

10. As described in chapter 12, what is the difference between the effects of Catholic school on Sai and Noni?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The judge and Biju are both victims of very different types of Indian tokenization while they are abroad. The judge is allowed to join the ICS only because they want more Indian members. Biju is not permitted to apply for a green card only because he is an Indian, and there are too many Indians who want one. How is each character ultimately affected by the knowledge that he is being categorized solely on the basis of his ethnicity? Does the judge see his experience as good luck and Biju see his as bad? How do these experiences relate to the two characters' feelings about their Indian identity? How do the experiences affect their character development later on?

Essay Topic 2

Biju and the judge were both sent away by their fathers in order to have a better life. Compare and contrast the two characters' experiences abroad, and how they ultimately affected each character. Why do you think things turned out so differently for the two characters? Does it have to do with their experiences? Their upbringing? Their personality?

Essay Topic 3

Gyan is constantly being pulled in different directions throughout the novel. His love for Sai feels improper because she could never be the submissive Indian wife his family would approve of. In addition, he feels as if he should put aside trivial things like his childish feelings for Sai and become a man in order to fight for the cause of a homeland. Do you think his romance and fighting for a cause are necessarily mutually exclusive? Do you think it is necessary for him to make a choice, or could he have both? If you had to choose between the two, which would you choose, and why?

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