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

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

3. What is the significance of Mt. Ararat?
(a) It is where Noah's Ark reportedly landed.
(b) It is where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son.
(c) It is where the Ten Commandments were handed down.
(d) It is where the Armenian people accepted Christianity.

4. What color were the kitchen cabinets in the Balakian's new home in Tenafly?
(a) Cherry.
(b) Pine.
(c) Maple.
(d) Oak.

5. 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) 30th.
(b) 25th.
(c) 50th.
(d) 40th.

Short Answer Questions

1. What poet's work was the class dissecting when Balakian challenged another student's interpretation of the words?

2. At what age did Balakian's father leave France for the United States?

3. What does the name Arax mean?

4. What California town was the Armenian-American writer William Saroyan from?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How did sports help heal the rift between Balakian and his father?

4. In what ways did life at Auntie Anna's and Uncle Steve's house differ from life in the Balakian household?

5. Describe Balakian' s father.

6. Why did Balakian's grandmother tell him a story from the genocide while he was delirious with fever?

7. In what way was Balakian's attachment to the Jewish families in his first neighborhood ultimately superficial, and could it have been deeper?

8. How did Balakian's school term paper on Turkey mark a turning point in his relationship with his father?

9. Why did Balakian react so strongly to Allen Ginsberg's reading of his poem "Kaddish"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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