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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 were the author's lasting feelings about his school years?
(a) A lifelong sense of being judged.
(b) A feeling of success.
(c) A feeling of inadequacy.
(d) A hopeful feeling of accomplishment.

2. What did the team receive if they won the competition between the "Army Navy" tests the civics teacher gave?
(a) A free pass to the bathroom.
(b) A blue star.
(c) An automatic passing grade on a test.
(d) A gold star.

3. What did the women of Brownsville force their children to do?
(a) Eat.
(b) Stay outside until dinner was ready.
(c) Beat rugs on the stoop.
(d) Shop for dinner.

4. Did the author's mother believe her son's generation would succeed?
(a) She thought that if they didn't follow the traditions, they would fail.
(b) She felt that Socialism would lead everyone to succeed.
(c) No.
(d) Yes.

5. What would the author skip pages of his favorite book to read?
(a) The description of the homestead the characters were building.
(b) The description of the characters eating black bread, salt and tomatoes.
(c) The description of the mountainous terrain the characters lived in.
(d) The description of the ship the immigrants came across the ocean on.

Short Answer Questions

1. To the author's mother, what was the gateway to romance?

2. What does the author connect New York rush hour with from his childhood?

3. When was the author's "great moment" of the Sabbath?

4. What still lines Belmont Avenue that was there during the author's childhood?

5. When the narrative begins, how many years has it been since the author left to live in "the city?"

Short Essay Questions

1. What time of day was the loneliest for the author's mother and why? What brought her out of her loneliness?

2. Why does the author specifically remember the second street in 'From the Subway to the Synagogue'?

3. The author liked to go to his cousin's room right before supper. What did he like to do while he was in there?

4. What was the author most embarrassed about during his school years? What made those years worse?

5. How does the author describe the Episcopalian church in his childhood neighborhood?

6. Which of the buildings in Brownsville that has been demolished holds the most fond memories for the author and why?

7. What kind of geographies does the author describe in the last part of 'From the Subway to the Synagogue'? What do describing these geographies lead to?

8. How does the author describe the second street he remembers and what is it's name?

9. Why did the author have such a hard time when his mother, cousin and her friends started talking about "Heym?"

10. How did the author feel about his religion teachers and why?

(see the answer keys)

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