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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 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 deaf.
(c) He is blind.
(d) He has a lame arm.

2. What does Lakshmi do in order to escape the old man who attempts to rape her after she's first arrived at Happiness House?
(a) She slaps his face.
(b) She bites his hand.
(c) She kicks him in the groin.
(d) She bites his tongue.

3. What color is the dress that Auntie gives to Lakshmi in "New Clothes"?
(a) Pink.
(b) Green.
(c) Yellow.
(d) White.

4. Which of Lakshmi's cucumbers is shaped like a snake, according to the narrator in "Confession"?
(a) Muthi.
(b) Ananta.
(c) Yeti.
(d) Vishnu.

5. What game does Lakshmi describe playing with Gita in "Before Gita Left"?
(a) "The American football game."
(b) The game of Spin the Bottle.
(c) "The hopping-on-one-leg game."
(d) "The running around the barn game."

Short Answer Questions

1. What answer does Auntie give to the turnip-nosed man when he asks about Lakshmi in "Numbers"?

2. What kind of vendor calls out to sell his wares below Lakshmi's window in "What I Don't Do"?

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 kind of alcoholic beverage do the men of Lakshmi's village drink during the festivals?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is described in "The New Student"? What is Lakshmi's relationship with this character?

2. Who is Gita? What is Lakshmi's relationship with Gita in the narrative?

3. What does a tin roof symbolize for Lakshmi in the novel?

4. 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?

5. Who is Lakshmi promised to marry when she comes of age? Why does she not marry this character?

6. What custom does Lakshmi partake in when she begins menstruation in "First Blood"?

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

8. What possessions does Lakshmi describe in "What I Carry"?

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

10. How is irony employed as a significant literary device in Sections 1 and 2 of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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