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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whose voice did Balakian describe as hitting him "as broken glass under a tire"?
(a) Roy Orbison.
(b) Jackie Wilson.
(c) Elvis Presley.
(d) Bob Dylan.

2. What kind of ice cream did grandmother buy Peter when they accidentally got off the subway in Harlem?
(a) Popsicle.
(b) Fudgsicle.
(c) Italian ice.
(d) Creamsicle.

3. Approximately how many Armenians were slaughtered in Diarbekir in 1915?
(a) 200,000.
(b) 100,000.
(c) 150,000.
(d) 75,000.

4. In what New Jersey town did Bedros Aroosian work in the silk mills?
(a) Paterson.
(b) Newark.
(c) Tenafly.
(d) Teaneck.

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

6. In what year did the book open?
(a) 1957.
(b) 1962.
(c) 1959.
(d) 1913.

7. What grocery store did Peter and his grandmother shop at?
(a) Safeway.
(b) A&P.
(c) Kroger's.
(d) Wegman's.

8. What does odar mean?
(a) Non-believer.
(b) Infidel.
(c) Turk.
(d) Other.

9. In what year did Peter's grandmother die?
(a) 1965.
(b) 1962.
(c) 1966.
(d) 1964.

10. What was the name of the poetry journal Balakian founded in 1976?
(a) Surrealism Review.
(b) Crabtree Lane Review.
(c) Oak Street Review.
(d) Graham House Review.

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

12. To what town was Balakian taking his girlfriend when he refused to return home for his grandmother's memorial service?
(a) Amherst.
(b) Cambridge.
(c) Princeton.
(d) Boston.

13. What does the word hokee mean?
(a) Soul.
(b) Peace.
(c) Rest.
(d) Heaven.

14. To which American writer did Balakian send his poems while at Bucknell College?
(a) Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
(b) Robert Pirsig.
(c) Jack Kerouac.
(d) Allen Ginsberg.

15. In what grade was Peter during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
(a) Fifth.
(b) Sixth.
(c) Fourth.
(d) Eighth.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Balakian's father unable to serve during World War II?

2. What degree was Balakian's girlfriend working on when he visited her, instead of going to his grandmother's memorial service?

3. What sports implement was hanging in the office of Dr. Cooley, the headmaster of Balakian's new private high school?

4. What prize did William Saroyan turn down for his play, "The Time of Your Life," in 1943?

5. What does the name Arax mean?

(see the answer keys)

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