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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What time of day was the train wreck?
(a) At two-thirty in the morning, the middle of the night actually.
(b) In the evening, the engineer was blinded by the setting sun.
(c) In the morning, when animals crossed the tracks looking for water.
(d) At noon, it happened when the depot was most crowded.

2. What do guests say about Sonia at the rice ceremony?
(a) She doesn't want to know her future.
(b) She is the true American.
(c) She'll always live between two cultures.
(d) She'll be important when she grows up.

3. As Ashoke waits while Ashima gives birth, who does he thank for his survival and this miracle of new life about to begin?
(a) God, he is a very religious man.
(b) Gogol, the Russian writer who saved his life in the train wreck.
(c) The man who lent him the book that saved his life.
(d) All the people of his family who came before him.

4. Why does Gogol/Nakhid take a class in Indian novels written in English?
(a) He feels it might answer questions about his heritage.
(b) One of the presenters is a cousin from India whom he has never met.
(c) It filled a void in his class schedule.
(d) He feels he's somewhat of an expert on the subject.

5. Who else visits the baby Gogol in the hospital?
(a) A couple the Gangulis met and a professor friend of Ashoke.
(b) Neighbors of the Gangulis.
(c) No one, they don't know anyone in America yet.
(d) Ashoke's fellow students from college.

6. Why is Ashima embarrassed to wear a hospital gown?
(a) The back is open.
(b) She hates white.
(c) It only comes to her knees.
(d) It's ugly.

7. What is Ashima's second pregnancy like?
(a) She is sick but doesn't let that slow her down.
(b) She is constantly sick and smells bother her a lot.
(c) She is in serious danger of having a miscarriage.
(d) She has no problems such as when she had Gogol.

8. How does Gogol go about changing his school documents that were completed using the name Gogol?
(a) Only when necessary because paperwork doesn't match.
(b) Methodically, one paper at a time but in no hurry.
(c) He almost boasts to everyone about his name change.
(d) In stealth, not letting his classmates know about it.

9. How does a book save Ashoke's life?
(a) It stops a piece of flying metal that could have killed him.
(b) It doesn't have anything to do with his survival.
(c) The book is like a warning and he avoids disaster.
(d) He is reading it and, thus, is in a safe place during the train wreck.

10. What do the Gangulis do with their home while they are in India?
(a) Rent it to an unmarried couple, students at the university.
(b) The sell it, figuring to buy another, nicer home when they return.
(c) Turn off the utilities and lock the doors.
(d) Pay a company to check on it every so often.

11. What does Gogol hate about explaining his name to people?
(a) That many people in India have pet names when children.
(b) That his parents didn't have a name ready when he was born.
(c) How to pronounce it correctly.
(d) That it's not Indian and is absurd and obscure.

12. Why does the principal finally end up registering Gogol by his pet name?
(a) He doesn't want to be called by any other name.
(b) She says the name on his birth certificate is his proper name.
(c) She doesn't understand Indian culture.
(d) She feels Gogol is closer to an American name than Nikhil.

13. What does Ashoke do that reminds Ashima of the time he visited her parents' home?
(a) He goes out of his way to learn American ways and tell her about them.
(b) He tells her how beautiful she is when she dresses up for him.
(c) He takes his shoes off, as is customary in India.
(d) He polishes his shoes fastidiously.

14. What does Gogol do with the book his father gives him for his fourteenth birthday?
(a) He sets it aside to read later when he has more time.
(b) He leafs through the book to see what it's about.
(c) He loses it almost immediately.
(d) He shuts the book and puts it on a shelf, unread.

15. What did Ashima do upon first meeting Ashoke when he visited her family home in India?
(a) She changed into her most beautiful sari before meeting him.
(b) She said she didn't want to meet anyone from America.
(c) She asked him about his travels, especially about America.
(d) She impulsively stepped into the strange American shoes at the door.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Gogol's parents think of his wanting to change his name?

2. What does the judge ask Gogol when he goes to court to change his name?

3. How do Ashoke and Ashima give in to American customs?

4. What is the one complication about Gogol/Nikhil's new name?

5. What two kinds of names do children in India usually receive?

(see the answer keys)

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