View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Peter shocked to see his grandmother doing as she read late at night?
(a) Drinking a beer.
(b) Smoking a cigar.
(c) Drinking whiskey.
(d) Smoking a pipe.

2. What college did Balakian's father say was "better than its name"?
(a) Kalamazoo.
(b) Dartmouth.
(c) Harvey Mudd.
(d) Brown.

3. In what French town did Balakian's parents end up at a police station, after a dispute at a restaurant?
(a) Bordeaux.
(b) Nice.
(c) Nimes.
(d) Paris.

4. What was the name of the poetry journal Balakian founded in 1976?
(a) Surrealism Review.
(b) Oak Street Review.
(c) Graham House Review.
(d) Crabtree Lane Review.

5. At what time did Balakian and his friend Ed Harrison routinely sneak out of their houses to explore the town?
(a) 3 a.m.
(b) 4 a.m.
(c) 1 a.m.
(d) Midnight.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what age did Balakian's father leave France for the United States?

2. Where did the Ottoman Turks originally come from?

3. In what year was the Armenian empire at its height?

4. What food did Balakian's mother bring when she visited during the talk by Allen Ginsberg?

5. What stock did grandmother recommend buying after she had a dream?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Wall family, who were Balakian's neighbors in Tenafly.

2. How did Balakian's family's attachment to food reflect their ancestors' history?

3. How did Balakian's memorial poem for his grandmother reflect his Armenian past?

4. Why did Balakian's father send him the newspaper clipping about the Armenian Soviet republic and how did Peter react?

5. Why was Balakian so unnerved by his grandmother's constant doting on him at family gatherings?

6. When the Balakian family was preparing to move to another town, what was the deeper significance of Balakian's mother's insistence that her son not get too attached to any one place?

7. How did sports help heal the rift between Balakian and his father?

8. How did Balakian's mother's behavior at the restaurant in France reflect her cultured upbringing?

9. What were some of the reasons Balakian likely did not seek out information about Armenia while he was still in college?

10. What did the phrase "the old country" mean to Balakian as a child?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,028 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample