View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Bakha think that his father will not object to his leaving if he says he is going to see Ram Charan's sister's wedding?
(a) He knows that his father will be interested in getting some of the wedding sweets.
(b) He knows that his father loves everything to do with weddings and celebrations.
(c) He knows that his father is very impressed with Ram Charan's family.
(d) He knows that his father is hoping that Bakha himself will marry soon.

2. Why has Bakha decided that asking one of the NCO's for the solar topee is impractical?
(a) They are not allowed to speak to civilians.
(b) They all want the solar topee for themselves.
(c) They are rotated in and out too often to make friends with.
(d) They are well known for anti-Indian sentiment.

3. After he is thrown out of his house, what irony does Bakha see in his father's behavior?
(a) All Bakha wanted to do was get the broom and go clean, as his father wanted him to do.
(b) His father is really the lazy one, and yet Bakha is the one who has been turned out of the house.
(c) His father has punished him by throwing him out, but Bakha does not want to be at home, anyway.
(d) His father is cruel to him, yet this is also the same father who begged for medicine for him.

4. How old is Ram Charan's sister?
(a) 15.
(b) 14.
(c) 16.
(d) 13.

5. When Bakha gets home, where is he told that his brother has gone?
(a) To Ram Charan's sister's wedding.
(b) To play hockey.
(c) To beg for food in the barracks.
(d) To clean the latrines.

6. What is a "sadhu"?
(a) A street performer.
(b) An ascetic holy man.
(c) A tax collector.
(d) A beggar.

7. How is Bakha feeling when he first arrives and surveys the happy wedding crowd?
(a) Afraid and self-conscious.
(b) Jovial and relaxed.
(c) Envious and angry.
(d) Tired and apathetic.

8. What does Bakha stop to do on his way home from the hockey game?
(a) See more of Ram Charan's sister's wedding.
(b) Retrieve the sugar plums he hid for later.
(c) Hide his stick.
(d) Beg for water at the well.

9. What do all of the stories about the solar topee have in common?
(a) They highlight economic inequality in India.
(b) They point out corruption in the military.
(c) They stress the authority of the sahibs.
(d) They create respect for the rule of law.

10. How does the narrator characterize Bakha's response to nature?
(a) It is spontaneous.
(b) It is superficial.
(c) It is artificial.
(d) It is exaggerated.

11. What are the "ghats by the waterside" (76)?
(a) Boats.
(b) Fires.
(c) Steps.
(d) Huts.

12. What event starts the fight between the two hockey teams?
(a) Ram Charan insults another player.
(b) The babu's younger son insists on being the referee.
(c) Bakha scores a goal.
(d) The players discover Chota's lie.

13. What was the family's purpose in putting Bakha on the floor when he was so ill?
(a) They wanted him to be able to die close to the earth.
(b) They hoped the cooler air near the floor would help with his fever.
(c) They needed space in the bed for the younger children.
(d) They were performing a ritual intended to solicit divine intervention.

14. When Rakha taunts Bakha and refuses to give up the broom, how does Bakha feel?
(a) He thinks Rakha is just being a child and still loves him.
(b) He is filled with jealousy over his father's favoritism.
(c) He is shocked at the wave of hatred he feels for his brother.
(d) He worries that Rakha's personality will isolate him from others.

15. What is implied by Bakha's feeling like a "giant" when he looks back at the outcastes' colony after fleeing his home?
(a) There is something superior about Bakha's perspective, compared to that of the others in the colony.
(b) The moment has finally come when Bakha will stand up for himself against the other outcastes.
(c) Bakha's misadventures are a source of danger to the outcastes living in the colony.
(d) Bakha's physical size is yet another thing that separates him from the other outcastes.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Bakha asking for when he shouts up at the houses from the street?

2. Why does the little boy refuse to come down into the alley to defecate?

3. What emotion does Bakha struggle with as his father tells the story of the time he was so ill as a child?

4. What does Charat Singh have that is "mounted with gold" (91)?

5. What has Chota lied to the other players about?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 788 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample