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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 is the cemetery filled with?

2. Who did Maali take his negatives to?

3. What color is the sari that the woman in wearing?

4. Who does Sena guess Maali was thrown off the roof by?

5. What does Maali see on the rooftop?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is in the box under Maali's bed?

2. Why is Maali unsure about what happened to him?

3. What is the box of photographs symbolic of?

4. Why is Maali eager to make contact with his friends?

5. How does the author particularly use Maali’s box of photos in the novel?

6. Why does Maali feel as if his life has been a waste?

7. Why do Ranchagoda and Cassim visit Hotel Leo?

8. Who and what does Maali see on the Hotel Leo rooftop?

9. What does Maali watch Kottu and Balal doing?

10. Who tells Maali to get his ears checked and what does the doctor say about ear folds?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Maali’s character is complex. At the beginning of the novel readers are told, "If you had a business card, this is what it would say: Maali Almeida. Photographer. Gambler. Slut." (1). Yet despite his flaws, the Booker judges described him as ‘wonderful company’ and ‘cheerfully unapologetic about what others might see as his failings’. What is it about Maali’s character that makes him so likable?

Essay Topic 2

"Why is Sri Lanka Number One in suicides?" asks the girl peering through thick glasses. "Are we that much sadder or violent than the rest of the world?" "Who the fuck cares?" says the hunched figure, as a lady in pigtails does her high jump over the edge. "It’s because we have just the right amount of education to understand that the world is cruel," says the schoolgirl. "And just enough corruption and inequality to feel powerless against it" (285).

What might this excerpt from the text say about social conditions within Sri Lanka during the civil war, and why was the suicide rate in the country so high?

Essay Topic 3

What is the symbolic connotation of the seven moons?

(see the answer keys)

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