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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. Where did Balakian and his father meet the Indian dressed as a chief during their cross-country tour?

2. What California town was the Armenian-American writer William Saroyan from?

3. At what age did Balakian's father leave France for the United States?

4. In what year did Balakian and his father take a Greyhound bus across the United States?

5. What is the significance of Mt. Ararat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Balakian' s father.

2. Why were books so important to Balakian's Aunt Nona?

3. How did Balakian's father's fear of germs, as well as other family member's obsession with health and safety, reflect their experiences during the genocide?

4. How did Balakian's mother differ from most of the other mothers on Crabtree Lane in Tenafly?

5. When the Balakian family was preparing to move to another town, what was the deeper significance of Balakian's mother's insistence that her son not get too attached to any one place?

6. Did Balakian's father have a strong connection to Constantinople, and how did that reflect the city's tumultuous history?

7. Describe the Wall family, who were Balakian's neighbors in Tenafly.

8. How did Balakian's school term paper on Turkey mark a turning point in his relationship with his father?

9. How did Balakian's memorial poem for his grandmother reflect his Armenian past?

10. What was Balakian's reaction to the film, The Graduate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Turkish government officials and their supporters have claimed that the denial of the genocide is a form of protected free speech. Do you believe that? Can speech that denies a central historical truth be protected under free speech statutes? Does this denial make it more difficult for Armenians to exercise their own freedom of speech to publicize the genocide? Does the granting of free speech rights mean that all positions must be treated as legitimate sides in a debate?

Essay Topic 2

Balakian's aunts were deeply critical of American suburban life, believing that it lacked culture and refinement. Write a compare and contrast essay looking at both the attitudes of the family members toward the suburbs versus the city and the realities they encountered in their separate worlds. Include ways in which the cities and suburbs were similar as well as ways in which they were markedly different. Compare the cultural offerings as well as the sense of community in the two areas.

Essay Topic 3

Balakian wrote about his father's love of sports and how that formed a bridge between the two. Write an essay exploring how sports can form a bond between fathers and sons. How can fathers and sons express their love for one another through a shared interest in sports? Was Peter's father able to express his love for his son in any other way? Did Peter understand that his father was expressing his love for him through sports while he was still a child? Or did he not realize that until he reached adulthood? If he did not understand it until adulthood, did that affect his relationship with his father in childhood?

(see the answer keys)

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