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

2. Where had Balakian learned the stories of the Bible?
(a) From his Jewish friends.
(b) Armenian church.
(c) Armenian Sunday school.
(d) Within the family.

3. What does the phrase, "Mairig Asdvadzadzeen," mean?
(a) Mother of God.
(b) Holy Ghost.
(c) Son of God.
(d) Holy Spirit.

4. What town did Balakian's grandmother mention when she was discussing the death march, as he lay in bed sick?
(a) Constantinople.
(b) Diarbekir.
(c) Aleppo.
(d) Der Zor.

5. What baseball team did Peter and his grandmother root for?
(a) Chicago White Sox.
(b) New York Yankees.
(c) Philadelphia Phillies.
(d) New York Mets.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What Biblical figure were the Jewish boys arguing about during the baseball game in "An Armenian Jew in Suburbia"?

3. What is lokma?

4. What is pakht?

5. What kind of car did the Aroosian women drive during their house-viewing expeditions in 1958?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Describe Balakian' s father.

3. Why was Balakian so unnerved by his grandmother's constant doting on him at family gatherings?

4. Why was Balakian's Aunt Anna so opposed to American suburbia?

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

6. What did the phrase "the old country" mean to Balakian as a child?

7. How did Balakian's grandmother establish a strong bond with him through cooking?

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

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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