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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 French town did Balakian's parents end up at a police station, after a dispute at a restaurant?
(a) Bordeaux.
(b) Nice.
(c) Nimes.
(d) Paris.

2. How old was Peter Balakian when his aunts began taking him on the house-viewing expeditions?
(a) Eleven.
(b) Eight.
(c) Five.
(d) Ten.

3. How many children were in the Wall family?
(a) Ten.
(b) Nine.
(c) Seven.
(d) Six.

4. What was Peter shocked to see his grandmother doing as she read late at night?
(a) Smoking a cigar.
(b) Drinking whiskey.
(c) Smoking a pipe.
(d) Drinking a beer.

5. How many months worth of canned evaporated milk were Americans advised to have on hand during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
(a) Twenty-four months.
(b) Six months.
(c) Eighteen months.
(d) Twelve monhs.

Short Answer Questions

1. What singer did the man in the motorcycle jacket on the bus remind Peter of?

2. What baseball legend was Balakian reading about while he was sick with the measles?

3. What stock did grandmother recommend buying after she had a dream?

4. Where did the Ottoman Turks originally come from?

5. What American author was NOT mentioned as the topic of one of Aunt Anna's published literary books?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Balakian's reaction to the folktales his grandmother would frequently tell him?

2. How did Balakian's mother's behavior at the restaurant in France reflect her cultured upbringing?

3. Why did Balakian's father insist his son leave the public schools and attend a private school?

4. How did Balakian's family's obsession with style reflect their history?

5. How did Balakian's family's attachment to food reflect their ancestors' history?

6. Describe the impact poetry had on Balakian during high school and how it connected to his family's silence about the genocide.

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

8. 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?

9. Why did Balakian and Auntie Anna argue about literature?

10. How did Balakian's grandmother react to the assault against the man on the city bus?

(see the answer keys)

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