The Namesake

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. How did Ashima and Ashoke meet?

2. Where does the name Gogol originate?

3. What happens to Ashoke as a young man that gives him a limp?

4. What do Indian families traditionally do instead of baptism?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Ashima do before she meets Ashoke?

A) She vows to never love him.

B) She tries on his shoes.

C) She spies on him in secret.

D) She takes his favorite book from his room.

2. Why is it ironic that Ashoke’s mother chides him for his love of literature, saying he will be reading a book when he dies?

A) She is hit by a bus while reading.

B) He thinks of reading books as the only time he feels alive.

C) He is obsessed with books about death.

D) He is rescued because of the book he was reading.

3. Why does the family leave the hospital without a bhalanam, or formal name, for Gogol?

A) They are waiting on a letter from their grandmother.

B) They cannot think of one.

C) They want Gogol to choose it himself.

D) They want to Americanize him, so he will not have one.