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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. What does Bakha criticize his brother for when they are eating?
(a) Being greedy with the food.
(b) Dropping food on the floor.
(c) Eating with dirty hands.
(d) Chewing with his mouth open.

2. Why does Rakha feel safe from Bakha's criticism?
(a) He knows the Bakha is only teasing.
(b) Rakha is the elder brother.
(c) Their father favors him.
(d) Rakha is stronger and bigger than Bakha.

3. What does his trip to the kitchen cause Bakha to remember?
(a) His dream about the little girl.
(b) Being yelled at by a cook when he was small.
(c) The guests at Ram Charan's sister's wedding.
(d) The food his mother used to cook.

4. Why does Bakha decide it would be best not to let Ram Charan know about the hockey stick?
(a) Ram Charan might tease him about it and spoil the joy of the gift.
(b) Ram Charan might tell Lakha about how Bakha has spent the afternoon.
(c) Ram Charan might try to steal the stick for himself.
(d) Ram Charan might go to Charat Singh and ask for a similar hockey stick.

5. What point does Bakha take away from the story his father tells about when Bakha was gravely ill as a child?
(a) His father should have done more to try to help him.
(b) The upper caste doctor was initially willing to just let Bakha die.
(c) The caste system is designed to get rid of as many outcastes as possible.
(d) His mother is really the only one who genuinely loved Bakha.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the first woman in the alley houses repeatedly tell Bakha?

2. After he is thrown out of his house, what irony does Bakha see in his father's behavior?

3. What is Chota's reaction to Bakha's new hockey stick?

4. Who are the "pale-white ghosts, ghouls and hobgoblins" mentioned on page 87?

5. Why does Bakha think that it is unlikely he will be able to lie to his father about the morning's events?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the younger of the babu's sons end up getting injured?

2. What excuse does Bakha give for not bringing more food home, and how does his father's reply make him feel?

3. When Bakha is lying under a tree outside the barracks, what does he decide about taking so much time away from work?

4. When Bakha is on his way to see Charat Singh about the hockey stick, what strange feeling does he have about the errand?

5. Describe some of the common elements in Bakha's dreams when he falls asleep in the alley.

6. Even before Charat Singh gives Bakha the hockey stick, what does he do that causes Bakha to feel very honored?

7. What causes Bakha to tell his father about his morning's misadventures, and how does his father react?

8. Despite his hunger, how does Bakha end up too nauseated to eat the food his brother brings home?

9. What is the significance of Bakha asking Ram Charan to toss him a sugar plum instead of taking it himself?

10. Although Bakha is honored by Charat Singh's actions, in what sense are they also condescending and dismissive of Bakha's humanity?

(see the answer keys)

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