Reading Comprehension Quiz

Dinaw Mengestu, “Home at Last”

Read “Home at Last” and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Click the submit button when finished.

Question After reading this article, where might Mengestu say he is from?

Question Mengestu writes that his family members were “isolated from one another.” Why?

Question Based on Mengestu’s descriptions of the places he lived while growing up, what can be said about American culture?

Question Mengestu writes that he wandered the streets of the Kensington neighborhood to memorize their “layouts and routines.” Why did he do this?

Question Mengestu details the different types of markets, restaurants, and churches in his neighborhood. Why does he name these places and label them with the ethnicities associated with them?

Question Mengestu writes that he once had planned to have a “Kensington night” with his friends to show them the neighborhood he called home. He later writes that he never did this. Why didn’t he do it?

Question In the first section of “Home at Last,” Mengestu tells of his feeling of social isolation growing up. In the second section, he relates to the reader his move to Brooklyn and his attempts to integrate into communities around him. What evidence does he supply as proof that he successfully became a part of the community?

Question By the end of the article, how might the reader define “community” based on Mengestu’s essay?