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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 does the bus do when it encounters a cow sleeping in the middle of the road in "On the Bus"?
(a) It stops and waits.
(b) It honks.
(c) It goes around her.
(d) It runs over her.

2. What does Lakshmi describe brushing her teeth with in "The New Student"?
(a) A twig from a neem tree.
(b) A twig from a willow tree.
(c) A twig from a birch tree.
(d) A toothbrush.

3. What does Lakshmi's mother do as she serves her husband dinner each night in "Something Beautiful"?
(a) She bathes the baby.
(b) She kneels at his feet.
(c) She feeds the baby.
(d) She walks the dog.

4. What has been done to the woman that Uncle Husband says has been punished for running away from her husband in "Disgraced"?
(a) Her head has been shaved.
(b) She has been raped.
(c) She has been imprisoned.
(d) She has been hanged.

5. What disability does Lakshmi describe her stepfather having in "The Difference Between a Son and a Daughter"?
(a) He has a lame leg.
(b) He is blind.
(c) He has a lame arm.
(d) He is deaf.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Lakshmi in the beginning of the novel?

2. In "Seeing a Girl with a Long Black Braid," the narrator says, "There are a thousand girls in the city. But so far, none of them is" whom?

3. How much money does Lakshmi's stepfather ask for Lakshmi when he sells her at Bajai Sita's store in "A Trade"?

4. What is the occupation of the boy that Lakshmi is promised to marry in "Before Gita Left"?

5. What are "the carts with chicken and sheep in the back" called, according to Lakshmi in "On the Bus"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the impact of Lakshmi's journey with Auntie on her perception of her surroundings and home. Why do you think Lakshmi is taken on this journey in the manner she is taken?

2. Why does Lakshmi describe her first experiences of her journey to be "inauspicious" in "An Inauspicious Start"?

3. How is Lakshmi's family described in "A Tin Roof"? With whom does Lakshmi live?

4. What is ironic about the setting of Happiness House?

5. How does Lakshmi describe her village's religious beliefs in "Something Beautiful"?

6. How is the economy of Lakshmi's village described in "Calendar"?

7. What are the instructions for womanhood that Ama relates to Lakshmi in "Everything I Need to Know"?

8. What is symbolized and foreshadowed by the woman who has been publicly shamed when Lakshmi gets off the train in India?

9. What is described in the vignette titled "Another Calendar"?

10. How does Lakshmi describe her journey in "A New World"?

(see the answer keys)

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