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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Ashima tell Ashoke as soon as they bring their baby home?
(a) She rebukes him for not having done the dishes.
(b) She says she can't do this.
(c) She says nothing; she is tired and needs her sleep.
(d) She tells him they are starting on a new journey in life.

2. What does Gogol think when his parents tell him they are going to India for eight months?
(a) That they are joking.
(b) That they are doing it only to acquaint him and Sonia with India.
(c) That they are homesick.
(d) That they think he's become too American.

3. What does Gogol give his mother as a gift when his baby sister is born?
(a) A pretty bow for her hair that his father helped him pick out at the store.
(b) A blanket for the baby.
(c) A bracelet he made at school.
(d) A picture of his family that he drew.

4. What does Ashima do with most of the gifts Gogol gets at his second birthday party?
(a) She sets them aside for regifting.
(b) The stores them in their original boxes for future use.
(c) She finds places for them in Gogol's crowded room.
(d) She returns those that are duplicates for gift certificates.

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

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

7. What happens when Gogol returns to school during his freshman year after meeting Ruth over the weekend?
(a) Gogol and Ruth have an argument.
(b) Some of Gogol's friends set him up with a girl they know.
(c) Gogol feels suffocated at school and asks to come home.
(d) Gogol and Ruth start seeing each other.

8. 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.

9. How does the breakup between Gogol/Nakhil and Ruth happen?
(a) Gogol's friends tell him Ruth isn't right for him.
(b) Ruth takes a class in England and that ends the affair.
(c) Ruth's parents don't like her seeing an Indian so she ends it.
(d) They have a huge fight and Gogol walks out on her.

10. What bad news does Ashima receive from her family in India soon after Gogol's birth?
(a) Her grandmother has had a stroke.
(b) Her little brother's wedding has been called off.
(c) Her father has lost his job.
(d) Their home was flooded and suffered extensive damage.

11. What does Gogol's father give him on his fourteenth birthday?
(a) An expensive leather jacket.
(b) The baseball bat Gogol truly wanted.
(c) A gift certificate, because he doen't know what Gogol wants.
(d) A book of short stories by Nikoli Gogol.

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

13. How does Ashima react to Gogol's time in pre-school?
(a) She finds herself at long last with time for herself.
(b) She is concerned that he will forget his Indian heritage.
(c) She is despondent, unused to being alone all over again.
(d) She wishes she could learn alongside him.

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

15. On the plane, why is Gogol happy to sit apart from his parents?
(a) He isn't happy, he's secretly afraid.
(b) He's glad because Sonia irritates him with her questions.
(c) Because he thinks no one will know they are related to him.
(d) Because he enjoys being on his own.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Gogol's father take him to his first day of kindergarten?

2. What's the first thing that causes Ashima and Ashoke to suspect she's pregnant?

3. Where does Gogol first begin to introduce himself to people as Nikhil?

4. How Gogol/Nikhil feel about his new name once a few weeks have passed?

5. What does the man who lends Ashoke the book on the train tell him that he should do?

(see the answer keys)

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