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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do Ashoke and Ashima give in to American customs?
(a) They let Sonia and Gogol choose American food at the supermarket.
(b) They cease celebrating Indian holidays.
(c) They wear American clothes even in their own home.
(d) They buy season tickets to sporting events.

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

3. What does the Ganguli family do in the beginning of their life in their new home, in the evenings?
(a) They watch American programs on their television.
(b) They sit outside and enjoy the luxury of a real yard.
(c) They work on their English language skills.
(d) They go for drives and explore their new environs bit by bit.

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

5. What does Gogol's father say after giving him a special gift for his fourteenth birthday?
(a) He hopes Gogol likes it because it was rather expensive.
(b) Nothing because he sees Gogol has ignored similar gifts.
(c) He hopes Gogol doesn't forget his Indian heritage.
(d) He hopes Gogol uses it wisely.

6. What is the one complication about Gogol/Nikhil's new name?
(a) He only wishes he'd done it years earlier.
(b) He doesn't feel like a Nikhil.
(c) He forgets and signs his old name every so often.
(d) He can't remember to respond to his new name.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14. What happens when the Ganguli family enters the Dum Dum Airport?
(a) They are detained by security.
(b) They look for a taxi to carry them to their destination.
(c) They can't find their luggage.
(d) They are swallowed by hugs and kisses.

15. How does Gogol feel after leaving the courthouse with a changed name?
(a) He wonders if he now looks more like an American.
(b) He wants to tell passersby that his name is Nikhil.
(c) He is concerned that his family will no longer accept him.
(d) He wonders if he did the right thing.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How does Gogol go about changing his school documents that were completed using the name Gogol?

3. What does Ashima do immediately after she gives birth to Gogol?

4. What does Ashoke do that reminds Ashima of the time he visited her parents' home?

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

(see the answer keys)

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