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

2. How does Ashoke's career advance in Chapter 3?
(a) He is asked to join a government research project.
(b) He is hired as assistant professor of electrical engineering.
(c) He is promoted over an American teacher.
(d) He is offered a post in California and accepts.

3. What place does Ashima recall while in labor?
(a) Her childhood home in India.
(b) The lake she once visited as a child.
(c) The apartment she shares with her husband.
(d) No place, she's totally involved in her present situation.

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

5. How does Ashima's family keep in touch with her after Gogol's birth?
(a) They exchange long letters about once a month.
(b) They call every evening at six, right after dinner.
(c) They communicate sporadically.
(d) They write letters, once as many as three a week.

6. 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.

7. 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) Their home was flooded and suffered extensive damage.
(d) Her father has lost his job.

8. What does Gogol decide to do a few weeks after moving away from his family and starting college?
(a) He goes a little wild and ends up drunk.
(b) Nothing, he finally accepts his name as a part of him.
(c) He moves back home because he's homesick and he commutes.
(d) He decides to change his name legally.

9. How many people come to Sonia's rice ceremony when she's six months old?
(a) The whole neighborhood, including their American friends.
(b) So many that the Gangulis rent a building on campus.
(c) Just a handful but they are good friends of the family.
(d) Practically none because they have few Indian neighbors.

10. What was Ashoke doing the day he almost died?
(a) He was climbing a mountain.
(b) He was helping his parents clean the yard.
(c) He was crossing a street just like every other day.
(d) He was reading a book.

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

12. What kind of people are Ashima's neighbors in her first home in America?
(a) Out-of-work Americans.
(b) A mix of peoples from all over the world.
(c) Other immigrants from India.
(d) Families of professors at Harvard.

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

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

15. How does Ashima feel about their move to the suburbs?
(a) She finds it more distressing than moving from Calcutta to America.
(b) She dislikes the house her husband insisted they rent.
(c) She is relieved to finally have a decent yard.
(d) She wishes there were more people from India nearby.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does a book save Ashoke's life?

2. Why does the principal finally end up registering Gogol by his pet name?

3. In India, is it necessary to come up with a name for a child immediately after birth?

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

5. How do Gogol and his friends celebrate his fourteenth birthday party?

(see the answer keys)

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