View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many months worth of canned evaporated milk were Americans advised to have on hand during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

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

3. What junk food did Balakian reminisce about eating at the Dillstein's house?

4. How many miles away was Tenafly from Teaneck?

5. What colors were the threads on the brocade of Mr. Blumenthal's yarmulke?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Balakian's grandmother continue to affect him even after her death?

2. 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?

3. What were some of the reasons Balakian likely did not seek out information about Armenia while he was still in college?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Turkish government officials and their supporters have claimed that the denial of the genocide is a form of protected free speech. Do you believe that? Can speech that denies a central historical truth be protected under free speech statutes? Does this denial make it more difficult for Armenians to exercise their own freedom of speech to publicize the genocide? Does the granting of free speech rights mean that all positions must be treated as legitimate sides in a debate?

Essay Topic 2

Balakian wrote frequently about the central role food played in his extended family. What importance does food have in Armenian culture? How did the experience of starvation during the genocide impact Armenian immigrants to the U.S.? Would food still have had the same importance if the Armenians had not experienced starvation? How do immigrant families transmit their culture to their children through food? How do they express their love at the dinner table?

Essay Topic 3

Balakian's grandmother Nafina frequently had dreams that she insisted were prophetic. How did most of the family members react to these dreams? How did Peter react to them? In what way was Nafina still tied to traditional Armenian culture through these dreams? Did Peter's father reject these prophetic dreams because he was a scientifically-minded person or because he wanted to be an assimilated American?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,099 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample