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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. In what type of neighborhood do the Gangulis finally purchase a home?

2. What did Gogol do at his birthday party with friends that he'd never done before?

3. What kind of gifts does Gogol get at his second birthday party?

4. What happens when Gogol returns to school during his freshman year after meeting Ruth over the weekend?

5. Who else visits the baby Gogol in the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Gogol feel about his family during visits home from college?

4. What do the Ganguli family do during Ashoke's sabbatical?

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

6. What is Ashima doing when her water breaks?

7. When Gogol is six, what event changes in the Ganguli family?

8. Why aren't Ashoke and Ashima concerned that they don't have a name picked out before the birth of their child?

9. What does Ashima think about while in labor?

10. What does Gogol do during the traditional rice ceremony when he is six months old?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author chooses to use a common third-person voice for the narrative, but tells the story as if in the present. This is not common in literature. Tell whether you think this works well for this story. Tell why or why not and support you case by citing examples from the book that you feel are best told this way or that would be better told differently.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

The author's previous book is a book of short stories. Some of the criticism of this book is that it is jerky and seems more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Cite examples from the book that you believe led to this criticism. Do you agree that the plot movement is jerky? Why or why not? Cite examples to support your answer.

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