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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What makes Ashima's first outing with Gogol take longer than expected?

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

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

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

5. How does Gogol/Nakhil feel when people who used to call him Gogol use his new name?

Short Essay Questions

1. At college after changing his name, how does Gogol react to being called by his new name?

2. Who befriends Ashima at the hospital and how?

3. Why don't Ashima and Ashoke have a name picked out for their baby?

4. What happens when Gogol's train coming home from college is late?

5. What happens when Gogol takes an English class in high school?

6. How does Gogol react to the gifts he receives at his fourteenth birthday party?

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

8. What does Ashoke do for Gogol's fourteenth birthday?

9. Why doesn't the school call Gogol by the name Nikhil?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author uses the character of Gogol's sister Sonia as a counterpoint to Gogol's character. Follow the development of her character throughout the book and show how her character differed from Gogol's and what the author accomplished through Sonia's character. Cite examples from the book to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Moushumi experiences much the same cultural ambivalence as Gogol. Explain why this is so and cite scenes from the book that show this ambivalence.

Essay Topic 3

The anger of second-generation immigrants who feel they are treated as second-class citizens is a theme in many novels. In this novel, the author uses the second-generation Indian immigrant Moushumi as an example of this anger. What happens in the novel that she sees as slights to her Indian heritage? How do these imagined slights affect her? How does her resulting anger affect her marriage to Gogol? Cite examples from the book to support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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