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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Gogol's father take him to his first day of kindergarten?
(a) Gogol asks his father to bring him.
(b) It's a tradition in India for a father to do this.
(c) Ashima gets sick riding in a car so Ashoke must take him.
(d) Ashima is overcome by tears and can't bring him herself.

2. 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) At noon, it happened when the depot was most crowded.
(d) In the morning, when animals crossed the tracks looking for water.

3. 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) He decides to change his name legally.
(c) Nothing, he finally accepts his name as a part of him.
(d) He moves back home because he's homesick and he commutes.

4. Where does Gogol first begin to introduce himself to people as Nikhil?
(a) At the park where a little boy asks his name.
(b) His first day of school in New Haven.
(c) As soon as he gets home he introduces his new self to his family.
(d) At the bank where he gets a school loan.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. As Ashoke waits while Ashima gives birth, who does he thank for his survival and this miracle of new life about to begin?

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

3. How does the breakup between Gogol/Nakhil and Ruth happen?

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

5. What memory of the train wreck still haunts Ashima, even after his marriage and starting a new life in America?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Gogol and Sonia while the family are sightseeing in India?

2. What job is Ashoke offered after finishing his college studies?

3. What does Ashoke think about while Ashima is in labor?

4. What does Ashima think about while in labor?

5. What happens when Gogol wants to see his girlfriend, Ruth, over the Christmas holidays?

6. Who befriends Ashima at the hospital and how?

7. What does Gogol decide to do when he turns eighteen?

8. How do Ashima and Ashoke feel about Ruth when they learn of their son's girlfriend?

9. Why doesn't Gogol look forward to his fourteenth birthday party?

10. What do the Gangulis do differently when naming their daughter Sonali than they did when Gogol was born?

(see the answer keys)

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