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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where do women in India go to have babies?
(a) Home to their family.
(b) The maternity ward in a hospital.
(c) An obstetrical clinic.
(d) They stay home and have help from their mother-in-law.

2. In what type of neighborhood do the Gangulis finally purchase a home?
(a) In an historic area where they will be steeped in tradition.
(b) In the country, where there are no neighbors to look down on them.
(c) An ordinary area where plastic wading pools are left out on the lawns.
(d) Where Ashoke can get to work quickly.

3. What memory of the train wreck still haunts Ashima, even after his marriage and starting a new life in America?
(a) The cries of the people trapped inside.
(b) The terrible silence after that first, wrenching crash.
(c) The twisted, battered, capsized bogies of the train.
(d) The still sky above such a terrible scene.

4. What do Gogol/Nakhil's parents think about his relationship with Ruth?
(a) They are happy their son is seeing an American girl.
(b) They are undecided.
(c) They don't know about the relationship.
(d) They disaprove.

5. What appearance does the Ganguli home present to a casual observer?
(a) Their home appears no different from their neighbors.
(b) Their home is clearly the home of immigrants.
(c) Their home is typical of people who don't know how to decorate an American house.
(d) Their home is painted an unusual color for the neighborhood.

6. Who else visits the baby Gogol in the hospital?
(a) A couple the Gangulis met and a professor friend of Ashoke.
(b) Neighbors of the Gangulis.
(c) No one, they don't know anyone in America yet.
(d) Ashoke's fellow students from college.

7. Why does the principal finally end up registering Gogol by his pet name?
(a) She doesn't understand Indian culture.
(b) She feels Gogol is closer to an American name than Nikhil.
(c) She says the name on his birth certificate is his proper name.
(d) He doesn't want to be called by any other name.

8. What makes Ashima's first outing with Gogol take longer than expected?
(a) Friendly Americans interested in her baby.
(b) She is still tired and can't walk as quickly as expected.
(c) Gogol cries and she must stop to calm him down.
(d) The pram is old and she's afraid it will break down.

9. How many people come to Sonia's rice ceremony when she's six months old?
(a) The whole neighborhood, including their American friends.
(b) Practically none because they have few Indian neighbors.
(c) Just a handful but they are good friends of the family.
(d) So many that the Gangulis rent a building on campus.

10. After Gogol gives his reasons for changing his name, how do his parents respond?
(a) They feel even more insulted on behalf of Indians everywhere.
(b) They tell him in America anything is possible and to do as he wishes.
(c) They agree that the name Gogol only causes problems.
(d) They are afraid that Gogol is drifting farther and farther from them.

11. What happens when Gogol returns to school during his freshman year after meeting Ruth over the weekend?
(a) Some of Gogol's friends set him up with a girl they know.
(b) Gogol and Ruth have an argument.
(c) Gogol feels suffocated at school and asks to come home.
(d) Gogol and Ruth start seeing each other.

12. What happens to Ashoke and Ashima within a decade of moving to America?
(a) They seldom know what's going on with their families in India.
(b) They become true Americans.
(c) They both become orphans.
(d) They lose touch with their families in India.

13. How does a book save Ashoke's life?
(a) He is reading it and, thus, is in a safe place during the train wreck.
(b) It doesn't have anything to do with his survival.
(c) The book is like a warning and he avoids disaster.
(d) It stops a piece of flying metal that could have killed him.

14. What happens when the Ganguli family enters the Dum Dum Airport?
(a) They are swallowed by hugs and kisses.
(b) They look for a taxi to carry them to their destination.
(c) They are detained by security.
(d) They can't find their luggage.

15. As Ashoke waits while Ashima gives birth, who does he thank for his survival and this miracle of new life about to begin?
(a) The man who lent him the book that saved his life.
(b) All the people of his family who came before him.
(c) God, he is a very religious man.
(d) Gogol, the Russian writer who saved his life in the train wreck.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ashima's second pregnancy like?

2. What does the judge ask Gogol when he goes to court to change his name?

3. What about the house becomes one of Gogol's earliest memories?

4. What does Ashoke do while pacing in the mens' waiting room at the hospital?

5. What difference does Ashima notice in her days before and after Gogol's birth?

(see the answer keys)

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