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

2. What is the significance of Mt. Ararat?

3. 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?

4. What is berek?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Balakian react to seeing his father perform emergency medical care to the heart attack victim at the football game?

2. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Balakian's grandfather Diran was a physician who served during the genocide and was required at times to treat Turkish soldiers. He did so knowing that many of these soldiers were likely to return to the front to kill more Armenians. Write an essay exploring how he was able to deal with this situation. Did knowing what these men were doing impact his ability to follow the Hippocratic Oath? Why did he treat the Turkish soldiers?

Essay Topic 2

Research the role of Ambassador Morgenthau in bringing the facts of the Armenian genocide to light. How did he attempt to help the Armenians? How did he attempt to negotiate with the Turkish leaders and convince them to stop what they were doing? Did the United States provide sufficient support to Morgenthau? Was their disbelief in America, and did the U.S. government do enough to try to intervene? Did the relative novelty of a massive effort to destroy an entire people hinder the world's response to the massacres? Did the ongoing world war hinder the world's response?

Essay Topic 3

When Peter Balakian was a child, Armenia existed only as a small Soviet-controlled republic. Did the lack of a truly independent Armenia affect the ability of the Armenian people to maintain their culture? Did the permanent loss of most of the traditional Armenian homeland destroy the culture? How does a nation maintain its identity if they are denied a place among the family of nations? Does the existence of the modern, independent nation of Armenia make it easier to maintain an identity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,161 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample