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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was like the largest, hottest dish of curry ever cooked?
(a) the arguments between families
(b) the fire at Spice Mountains
(c) the heatwave that killed the crops
(d) the anger of Epifania

2. How does Moraes identify his family?
(a) as heirs to the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
(b) as frauds claiming to be what they are not
(c) as great people who administered charties
(d) as a family of many different ethnic backgrounds

3. What is the Reverend Oliver D'Aeth's physical problem?
(a) recurring consumption
(b) intollerance of the Indian heat
(c) serious asthma
(d) acute allergic reaction to spice

4. What led Francisco da Gama to make changes in the house and chapel?
(a) punishment for Epifania
(b) artistic temperament
(c) religious fervor
(d) Ghandian simplicity

5. How did the people of Bombay regard Aurora da Gama?
(a) as helpless
(b) as demonic
(c) as angelic
(d) as ethereal

6. What is the literary symbolism of Moraes' nailing his passages along his escape route?
(a) Christ nailed to the corss
(b) Star of David nailed over Jewish doors
(c) Martin Luther's theses on the church door
(d) boards nailed over sensual mosaics

7. Where is Moraes Zogoiby at the opening of the novel?
(a) on top of a mountain
(b) on a ship in the ocean
(c) a graveyard in Spain
(d) on his deathbed

8. Why does Abraham distance himself from the Jewish community?
(a) because of his love for Aurora
(b) because he sees visions in the tiles
(c) because he cannot stand seeing Flory
(d) because he fears for his life

9. What happens that turns Carmen into a nurse for Aires and his lover?
(a) they are both wounded in the war
(b) they contract a particularly pernicious strain of syphilis
(c) they both come down with tuberculosis
(d) they both nearly die from asthma attacks

10. What happens in the house after Epifania dies?
(a) it is closed up for a month
(b) it turns dark
(c) it becomes merrier
(d) it begins to crumble

11. What are Epifania's last words?
(a) a prayer to St. Francis
(b) a curse on Aurora
(c) a song of praise
(d) a blessing for Aurora

12. The heiress to the da Gama fortune, Aurora falls in love with what older man?
(a) Aaron Zogoiby
(b) Adam Zogoiby
(c) Abraham Zogoiby
(d) Amos Zogoiby

13. To what does Moraes refer to as the sub-condiment?
(a) the spice trail from China
(b) India, exploited for its spices
(c) spices kept under the table
(d) inferior quality spices

14. After the business is successful again, what does Flory do?
(a) brings the police to demand her payment
(b) gives Aurora a love potion to make her conceive
(c) takes the written promise of the son to Aurora
(d) threatens to kill Abraham

15. What exists in a Benengeli village on a hill?
(a) Vasco Miranda's fortress
(b) a cave of buried treasure
(c) a lighthouse for ships
(d) a shrine to St. Helena

Short Answer Questions

1. Who helps Moraes cope with his deformity and rapid growth?

2. Who was the doorkeeper of Elephanta, Aurora's estate according to Moraes?

3. What does Aurora call the Reverend Oliver D'Aeth?

4. What does Moraes say he is doing faster than he should?

5. How is Abraham's physical infirmity introduced?

(see the answer keys)

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