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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What trait did the author's mother posses that she was most ashamed of?
(a) She couldn't speak English.
(b) She had a limp on her right side.
(c) She had a large scar on her hand.
(d) She was superstitious.

2. What country did the civics teacher come from?
(a) England.
(b) Poland.
(c) Germany.
(d) Ireland.

3. Did the author feel he could openly discuss his feelings about God?
(a) He felt he could only discuss them with his friends from school.
(b) He only felt he could express them to his parents.
(c) Yes.
(d) No.

4. Who did the author say it was good to be back among?
(a) His family.
(b) The children playing handball on the street.
(c) The children playing stickball on on the block.
(d) The women who shouted from the market.

5. What physical trait was the author most embarrassed by during his early school years?
(a) His stammer.
(b) His religion.
(c) His birthmark.
(d) His limp.

6. Where did the author think he lived as a child?
(a) The place most suited to his family.
(b) The most lonely place in the world.
(c) The end of the world.
(d) The best place a child could grow up.

7. During his childhood subway train rides to "the city," what told the author that he was on his last leg home?
(a) The east and west side express lane junctions.
(b) The Borough Hall Station.
(c) The Brooklyn-Clark Station.
(d) The East River.

8. What did Mrs. E do when she abandoned her housework for a half hour every morning?
(a) She gossiped with the neighborhood ladies.
(b) She sat in the vegetarian restaurant.
(c) She weeded her small flower garden.
(d) She listened to her "shows" on the radio.

9. What profession was the author's mother?
(a) A Breadmaker.
(b) A Maid.
(c) A Dressmaker.
(d) A Cobbler.

10. What drove the author's mother to work so hard?
(a) They needed the money.
(b) Duty to her husband.
(c) Loneliness.
(d) She felt the women in the neighborhood needed her.

11. What feelings does the author experience when he gets off the train?
(a) Hope, lightheartedness and joy.
(b) No feelings at all.
(c) Fear, loathing, and disgust.
(d) Rage, dread and unexpected tenderness.

12. What did the author's mother do out of loneliness every evening?
(a) She would stare out at the street.
(b) She would cry silently at her sewing machine.
(c) She would read from her parent's memoirs.
(d) She would cry silently at the sink while she washed dishes.

13. What political way of thinking did the author's parents practice?
(a) Marxism.
(b) Republican.
(c) Democracy.
(d) Socialism.

14. What did the street always smell faintly of?
(a) The candy from the wholesaler's windows.
(b) Freshly baked bread.
(c) The garbage left on the curb.
(d) The sewage from the squatter's lot.

15. What association did the New York World hold for the author?
(a) The Empire State building.
(b) The Sears Tower.
(c) The Brooklyn Bridge.
(d) The subway.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the second road the author mentions?

2. What was all work measured by in the author's childhood home?

3. What is the era in which the author's childhood took place?

4. In front of what building did the author's father meet every Saturday morning?

5. What was the author's favorite school experience?

(see the answer keys)

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