Here are a few questions I received from a student recently regarding the midterm:

Q. I have a question about two of the character in Paradise, Hamid and Mohammed Abdullah. Although I read through most of the book I don’t understand how Yusuf works for him? Does Aziz sell him to Hamid or does lend Yusuf to him? About Mohammed, I don’t really understand who he is suppose to be.from the reading I think he’s Aziz’s right hand man? It wasn’t  clear to me.
Also for the midterm prompts, will each prompt be individual from each other or will there be sharing of works? An example would be like out of the 10, 2 are from Havoc and so on. Will it be like that or each is one reading/idea?

A. Aziz leaves Yusuf with Hamid to help with his business and, in a sense, to socialize Yusuf. The relationship between Aziz and Yusuf becomes increasingly ambiguous. Like Khalil, Yusuf is rehani, but on the other hand Aziz seems to want to groom Yusuf as a trader if not exactly accept him as a family member. Mohammed Abdullah is a kind of overseer or enforcer who acts on Aziz’s behalf during the trading journeys. Aziz makes the plans, while MA ensures that orders are executed. He is feared, but his authority begins to falter as he grows weak from age and injury.

There will be 8 prompts on the midterm. Students will have to answer 6. Some of the prompts may overlap. Your response to each prompt is an opportunity to demonstrate 1) how informed you are about the course material in general and 2) your ability to establish connections between ideas and concepts.

Does anyone have any other questions? If so, send them to the comments section of this post.