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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What kind of dresses did Mrs. B wear?
(a) Plain, old fashioned dressses.
(b) Ankle length flowery dresses.
(c) Billowing chiffon dresses.
(d) Stiff Nun's habits.

3. When did the author feel the only time his favorite food could be eaten in "good conscience"?
(a) Friday night.
(b) After he finished playing stickball.
(c) On his way home from school.
(d) Saturday night.

4. The author's mother was a hard worker but there was something she couldn't do. What was that one thing?
(a) Do basic math.
(b) Work the victrola.
(c) Read English.
(d) Read at all.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. At what age are Jewish boys "confirmed?"

2. During his childhood subway train rides to "the city," what told the author that he was on his last leg home?

3. What did the older neighbor boys do when they came home from work?

4. What nickname did the author's father give him?

5. What did the women of Brownsville force their children to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has the author's childhood neighborhood not changed?

2. What was the author most embarrassed about during his school years? What made those years worse?

3. Why did the author have such a hard time when his mother, cousin and her friends started talking about "Heym?"

4. How does the author feel about his childhood school?

5. What is the third street the author mentions in "From the Subway to the Synagogue" and what is it's significance?

6. Describe the feelings the author first has when he enters his childhood neighborhood.

7. How did the author feel about his religion teachers and why?

8. In what ways did the kitchen hold the author's mother's character?

9. What time of day was the loneliest for the author's mother and why? What brought her out of her loneliness?

10. Why does the author specifically remember the second street in 'From the Subway to the Synagogue'?

(see the answer keys)

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