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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What college did Balakian's father say was "better than its name"?
(a) Harvey Mudd.
(b) Brown.
(c) Dartmouth.
(d) Kalamazoo.

2. At what school did Aunt Anna teach French?
(a) Vassar.
(b) CUNY.
(c) Columbia.
(d) NYU.

3. What colors were the threads on the brocade of Mr. Blumenthal's yarmulke?
(a) Silver and gold.
(b) Silver and blue.
(c) Blue and yellow.
(d) Blue and gold.

4. At what time did Balakian and his friend Ed Harrison routinely sneak out of their houses to explore the town?
(a) 3 a.m.
(b) Midnight.
(c) 1 a.m.
(d) 4 a.m.

5. What was the name of the private school Balakian was made to attend for high school?
(a) Marbury.
(b) Tanglewood.
(c) Lawrenceville.
(d) Englewood.

6. What stock did grandmother recommend buying after she had a dream?
(a) IBM.
(b) AT&T.
(c) NBC.
(d) GE.

7. On how many hills was Constantinople built?
(a) Ten.
(b) Four.
(c) Seven.
(d) Six.

8. Whose biography was Peter's grandmother reading when he came down late at night to get a bite to eat?
(a) Abraham Lincoln.
(b) Eleanor Roosevelt.
(c) Teddy Roosevelt.
(d) Mary Todd Lincoln.

9. At what age did Aunt Nona begin institutional schooling?
(a) Sixteen.
(b) Twelve.
(c) Fourteen.
(d) Fifteen.

10. What advice did Balakian (at the urging of his aunt) reluctantly seek from William Saroyan?
(a) Recommendations for typewriters.
(b) Advice on purchasing a car.
(c) Recommendations for poetry journals.
(d) Advice on breaking into poetry.

11. For what did Balakian win a trophy at the end of his first year at the private high school?
(a) Most popular freshman.
(b) English student of the year.
(c) Freshman athlete of the year.
(d) Most likely to succeed.

12. Who was Balakian's first anti-hero?
(a) Marlon Brando.
(b) James Dean.
(c) Benjamin Braddock.
(d) Holden Caulfield.

13. In what part of Manhattan did Aunt Anna live?
(a) Upper West Side.
(b) Soho.
(c) Upper East Side.
(d) Morningside Heights.

14. What Biblical figure were the Jewish boys arguing about during the baseball game in "An Armenian Jew in Suburbia"?
(a) Abraham's wife.
(b) Noah's wife.
(c) Joshua's wife.
(d) Moses' wife.

15. What anniversary was the Soviet Armenian Republic celebrating when Balakian's father wrote to his son at college urging him to learn more about the country?
(a) 25th.
(b) 30th.
(c) 40th.
(d) 50th.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the torte made with shredded wheat?

2. In what New Jersey town did Bedros Aroosian work in the silk mills?

3. In what year did Balakian first discover a love for poetry while in English class?

4. How many miles away was Tenafly from Teaneck?

5. Whose voice did Balakian describe as hitting him "as broken glass under a tire"?

(see the answer keys)

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