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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. Why does Maryna declare "you have waited so long."
(a) The performance ran late.
(b) She has been gone for a long time.
(c) Dinner was served after 11 pm.
(d) She is beginning to recite a poem.

2. What are some of the things Maryna, Aniela, and Piotr see on their excursion from New York?
(a) Telephone, color television, and answering machine.
(b) Automobile, blender, and vacuum cleaner.
(c) Radio, gas automobiles, and vacuum cleaner.
(d) Telephone, typewriter, and copy machine.

3. What was the name of one of the articles Ryszard sent to the Gazetta Polska?
(a) American Manners.
(b) American Architecture.
(c) American Motors.
(d) American Folkways.

4. What is the first play Maryna sees as a child?
(a) Othello
(b) A Doll House
(c) Don Carlos.
(d) Romeo and Juliet

5. Who is Jozefina?
(a) Maryna's stage assistant.
(b) Bogdan's aunt.
(c) Maryna's widowed sister.
(d) Maryna's servant and housekeeper.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the captain of the ship ask Ryszard not to go to the steerage section again?

2. What is the name of the city in which Maryna is performing on the night of the party?

3. Who is Aniela?

4. Of what do Maryna and Henryk speak the day after her performance?

5. What does Bogdan offer as a toast?

Short Essay Questions

1. The first of the immigrants to leave, Julian and Ryszard travel together to America. What is Ryszard anticipating for the trip? What kind of man does he hope to be when he lands in America?

2. Maryna prepares for her departure from the stage. What engagements does she cancel, and what do the critics say about this? Why has she chosen Zakopane, and who has she asked to accompany her there?

3. As the story opens, the narrator describes the room in which people are conversing and drinking. Who are these people? How does the narrator know them?

4. What are some of the toasts given at the celebration dinner table? To whom are they directed? What is Bogdan's toast about? Maryna's?

5. On his passage to America, Ryszard spends time listening to English speaking passengers. He meets many Americans. How does he describe the American attitude about their country? How does this differ from the way Ryszard sees himself as a Pole?

6. In Chapter One, what scene does Maryna give Krystyna to act out? Why?

7. Maryna relates the story of her childhood to various people in Chapter One. Discuss her childhood and the influences on her life.

8. Why does Maryna go to Henryk's office in Chapter One? What do we learn about her brother Stefan? What do we learn about Maryna?

9. While he is in the steerage section of the ship, Ryszard is brought by a deckhand to meet a bedraggled man. This man offers his niece, Nora, to Ryszard. What kinds of emotions does Ryszard have while below the ship in steerage? How does this experience change him?

10. How does Maryna talk about the passenger who went overboard on the ship? Why does she talk so much about the incident? What are her speculations as to what happened? What are her feelings?

(see the answer keys)

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