View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How do Gogol and his friends celebrate his fourteenth birthday party?
(a) They go to a pizza parlor where they play video games.
(b) They got to a baseball game and have pizza afterwards.
(c) They go swimming at a nearby pool.
(d) They have pizzas and watched a baseball game on TV.

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

4. In what type of neighborhood do the Gangulis finally purchase a home?
(a) Where Ashoke can get to work quickly.
(b) In the country, where there are no neighbors to look down on them.
(c) An ordinary area where plastic wading pools are left out on the lawns.
(d) In an historic area where they will be steeped in tradition.

5. What concerns Ashima about Sonia as she grows up?
(a) She has no real concerns, she's pleased with her daughter.
(b) She fears she'll color a streak in her hair.
(c) She fears she'll forget her Indian heritage.
(d) She hates the clothes she wears.

6. What error in speech does Ashima make when talking with the nurse?
(a) She uses the wrong word for baby.
(b) She forgets to use the plural when mentioning toes and fingers.
(c) She slips into her native tongue without realizing it.
(d) None, English was her best subject in Calcutta.

7. What does Ashoke remember when he and Ashima bring Gogol home?
(a) That he has a meeting and must soon leave for a while.
(b) That he'd not wanted children so soon.
(c) How beautiful Ashima had been when they first met.
(d) The conversation on the train before the train wreck.

8. What does the school counselor say about Gogol missing so much school?
(a) They say nothing, many of their students travel a lot.
(b) They are concerned and do not like it.
(c) They insist Gogol keep up on his studies.
(d) They feel the trip itself will be educational.

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

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

11. What kind of gifts does Gogol get at his second birthday party?
(a) Dictionaries, calculators, sweaters, and pens.
(b) Mementos of India.
(c) Baseballs, footballs and soccer balls.
(d) Trading cards for his collection.

12. What was Ashima's initial reaction to her first home in America?
(a) It was smaller than Ashoke had described.
(b) She was delighted with the sunny, spacious rooms.
(c) She didn't like the neighbors.
(d) It was not at all what she had expected.

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

14. What memory of the train wreck still haunts Ashima, even after his marriage and starting a new life in America?
(a) The still sky above such a terrible scene.
(b) The cries of the people trapped inside.
(c) The twisted, battered, capsized bogies of the train.
(d) The terrible silence after that first, wrenching crash.

15. What about the house becomes one of Gogol's earliest memories?
(a) The sound of the kids next door playing baseball.
(b) His parents discussing how to furnish their new home.
(c) Playing in the dirt because there is no yard yet.
(d) The movement of the sun's rays across his bedroom floor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ashima tell Ashoke as soon as they bring their baby home?

2. What does the Ganguli family do in the beginning of their life in their new home, in the evenings?

3. What changes about the planned visit to India when Gogol is about a year old?

4. Why doesn't Ashoke explain how Gogol came about his name when he gives him the book by Nikoli Gogol?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 971 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample