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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who will name Ashoke and Ashima's baby?
(a) Ashoke, because Indian fathers always name their children.
(b) They have asked Ashoke's relatives in India to come up with a suitable name.
(c) They will ask an American because they want an American name.
(d) Ashima's grandmother.

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

3. What do guests say about Sonia at the rice ceremony?
(a) She'll be important when she grows up.
(b) She is the true American.
(c) She doesn't want to know her future.
(d) She'll always live between two cultures.

4. What did Gogol do at his birthday party with friends that he'd never done before?
(a) He finally had a frosted cake and ice cream.
(b) He had a boy-girl party with dancing.
(c) He said no to a frosted cake and ice cream.
(d) He got presents from friends, something his parents had not allowed before.

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 painted an unusual color for the neighborhood.
(c) Their home is clearly the home of immigrants.
(d) Their home is typical of people who don't know how to decorate an American house.

6. When does the idea to change his name first occur to Gogol?
(a) When relatives in India tell him it's not an Indian name.
(b) When reading an issue of Readers Digest.
(c) When Sonia tells him people laugh behind his back.
(d) When school officials can't pronounce his given name.

7. How do Ashoke and Ashima give in to American customs?
(a) They buy season tickets to sporting events.
(b) They wear American clothes even in their own home.
(c) They let Sonia and Gogol choose American food at the supermarket.
(d) They cease celebrating Indian holidays.

8. What two kinds of names do children in India usually receive?
(a) Names to be spoken and names never to be said out loud.
(b) Pet names and good names.
(c) Formal names and informal names.
(d) Family names and nicknames.

9. What does Ashima do immediately after she gives birth to Gogol?
(a) She gives thanks for a healthy child.
(b) She asks the nurse to give her child to her immediately.
(c) She cries from the pain.
(d) She begins to shiver profoundly.

10. 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.

11. What does Ashima try to make for a midnight snack?
(a) Pickles, because she's pregnant
(b) Ice cream
(c) Rice Krispies bars
(d) A concoction sold for pennies in Calcutta

12. Why does Gogol tell the judge he's changing his name?
(a) People can't pronounce his name.
(b) He wants a more normal name.
(c) He doesn't like the writer he was named after.
(d) He has always hated his name.

13. What difference does Ashima notice in her days before and after Gogol's birth?
(a) Now she can't seem to organize her days.
(b) Now she has something to occupy her time.
(c) Now she isn't the center of attention when Ashoke is home.
(d) Now friends stop by at all hours to see Gogol.

14. How does Gogol go about changing his school documents that were completed using the name Gogol?
(a) In stealth, not letting his classmates know about it.
(b) He almost boasts to everyone about his name change.
(c) Only when necessary because paperwork doesn't match.
(d) Methodically, one paper at a time but in no hurry.

15. How does Ashima react to Gogol's time in pre-school?
(a) She is despondent, unused to being alone all over again.
(b) She wishes she could learn alongside him.
(c) She finds herself at long last with time for herself.
(d) She is concerned that he will forget his Indian heritage.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gogol's father give him on his fourteenth birthday?

2. What time of day was the train wreck?

3. How does Ashima feel about their move to the suburbs?

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

5. In what type of neighborhood do the Gangulis finally purchase a home?

(see the answer keys)

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