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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Aurora's pranks make Camoens believe?
(a) the house is haunted by his recently-deceased wife
(b) that Aires is trying to kill him
(c) that Epifania is trying to drive him away
(d) that Epifania has lost her mind

2. What is the literary symbolism of Moraes' nailing his passages along his escape route?
(a) Christ nailed to the corss
(b) boards nailed over sensual mosaics
(c) Martin Luther's theses on the church door
(d) Star of David nailed over Jewish doors

3. Where is Moraes Zogoiby at the opening of the novel?
(a) a graveyard in Spain
(b) on a ship in the ocean
(c) on top of a mountain
(d) on his deathbed

4. What does the family legend say is in Flory's treasure chest?
(a) gold smuggled out of Spain
(b) a four hundred year old crown
(c) diamonds from Africa
(d) a golden statue of Siva

5. What does Moraes say he is doing faster than he should?
(a) telling his story
(b) goinng through time
(c) running from Miranda
(d) breathing hard

6. What happens because of Aurora's political activities?
(a) she is imprisoned for two years
(b) she is run out of India
(c) she is sent to London to stand trial
(d) she is exiled to Italy

7. What does Aurora do when she learns of the deal between Abraham and Flory?
(a) removes herself to Calcutta
(b) locks him out of her bedroom
(c) sends him to work in Bombay
(d) sends him to prison

8. What is Moraes' medical problem?
(a) shortness of breath
(b) a bad heart
(c) lameness
(d) tuberculosis

9. What is the play on words in the names of Aurora's four children, Ina, Minnie, Mynah, and Moor?
(a) in a meany minor mow
(b) I'm a minna in my moat
(c) in a minute mighty Moe
(d) eeny, meeny, miney, moe

10. What does Moraes call the Black Gold of Malabar?
(a) ebony
(b) onyx
(c) oil
(d) pepper

11. What does Moraes tell the reader about the dark side of Vasco Miranda's personality?
(a) drug smuggling and assassinations
(b) aggressive fury, alcohol and drug abuse, bisexual orgies
(c) moodiness and holding grudges
(d) dealing in black magic and sorcery

12. Who is the person he begins his narrative with?
(a) his grandmother, Isabella Ximena Souza da Gama
(b) his mother, Aurora
(c) his father, Abraham Zogoiby
(d) homosexual great uncle, Aires da Gama

13. To what does Moraes refer to as the sub-condiment?
(a) India, exploited for its spices
(b) spices kept under the table
(c) inferior quality spices
(d) the spice trail from China

14. What need does Moraes have to be candid about his parents' sex life?
(a) to tell his story fully and candidly
(b) to establish his legitimacy
(c) to explain his madness
(d) to get even with his family

15. What does Moraes say he has already nailed up?
(a) his family's secrets
(b) his epic poetry
(c) his last will and testament
(d) his suicide notes

Short Answer Questions

1. What characterizes the strange speech patterns of the family?

2. How does Moraes say Aurora became so famous at the Ganesha festival?

3. What does Aurora witness in the chapel?

4. How does Aurora treat Abraham?

5. What name does Aurora give the painting by Miranda?

(see the answer keys)

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