Cambridge IGCSE English Literature Fasting, Feasting Exam Questions

About Cambridge IGCSE English Literature Fasting, Feasting

Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting is a prose set text for Paper 1: Poetry and Prose. The novel falls into two parts: the first follows Uma, the unmarried elder daughter trapped at home in a small Indian town by her controlling parents, and the second follows her brother Arun as a student in Massachusetts, lodging with the Patton family. Cambridge questions either print a passage for close analysis or ask a discursive essay on the whole novel. Examiners look for detailed knowledge, insight into how Desai uses food, family and contrasting settings, and close comment on her precise, often ironic prose.

Key themes, characters and context

• Uma The plain, clumsy elder daughter whose hopes of education and marriage are repeatedly crushed. Her failed marriages, including the deception over a man who was already married, and her forbidden job offer show how little control she has.
• Mama and Papa So united they are called 'MamaPapa', they dominate the household. Desai presents them with gentle irony as both comic and oppressive.
• Aruna and Anamika Aruna, the pretty younger sister, marries well and becomes obsessed with status. Cousin Anamika, brilliant but married into a cruel family, is beaten and later dies by burning, a tragic warning about women's lack of choice.
• Arun in America Arun, the son whose education his father pushes hard, finds freedom in America lonely and unsettling. His vegetarianism clashes with Mr Patton's meat barbecues.
• The Pattons Mrs Patton overbuys food that nobody eats, Mr Patton grills meat and Melanie suffers from an eating disorder. The American family mirrors the Indian one in its failures of love and communication.
• Food and structure Fasting and feasting run through both halves: denial, excess and control. The two-part structure invites comparison between Indian and American family life rather than a simple contrast.

Common mistakes in Fasting, Feasting

• Treating the American section as an afterthought; strong essays compare the two parts and show how each sheds light on the other.
• Describing Mama and Papa only as villains; Desai's tone is often comic and ironic, and answers should explore that.
• Mixing up Aruna and Anamika; Aruna is Uma's sister, Anamika is the cousin whose marriage ends in tragedy.
• Retelling the plot instead of analysing how Desai writes a passage, especially in the extract question.
• Overloading the essay with general facts about Indian society rather than staying with the novel's details.

Try three Fasting, Feasting practice questions