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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Makina’s brother eat until he recovered after discovering there was nothing at the land he had gone to see?
(a) Avocados.
(b) Refuse.
(c) Soup.
(d) Bread.

2. What does the light look like in the sky when Makina arrives at the address?
(a) Yellow storm clouds.
(b) Gray with snow.
(c) Pink flowers.
(d) Drying blood.

3. What effect does Makina’s writing have?
(a) It makes the cop angrier.
(b) It dissolved the cop’s anger.
(c) It galvanizes the other migrants.
(d) It summons bystanders to get involved.

4. What do Makina and her brother do before they speak when she first finds him?
(a) Run away.
(b) Ponder.
(c) Cry.
(d) Stare at each other.

5. What distinguishes Makina’s travel from one city to another?
(a) She only knows she has arrived because people tell her so.
(b) She has to take so many varieties of transportation to get there.
(c) She does not leave an urban environment.
(d) She arrives surprisingly quickly.

6. What does Makina not see in the city to tell her that it is a city?
(a) Shopping malls.
(b) Residential neighborhoods.
(c) Central plazas.
(d) Business districts.

7. How many times does Makina think she has arrived, only to find out that she has to keep going?
(a) Six.
(b) Two.
(c) Eight.
(d) Four.

8. What does Makina’s brother’s second note say?
(a) "I’m going to send money with my next letter."
(b) "Send money so I can come home."
(c) "I’m in danger, help."
(d) "I’m fine, I have a job."

9. Why is Makina surprised by the man who opens the door at the address the woman from the restaurant gave her?
(a) He is a dark-skinned black man.
(b) He speaks her language.
(c) He is not her brother.
(d) He does not speak English.

10. What does Makina write?
(a) A plea.
(b) A tirade.
(c) A lecture.
(d) A jeremiad.

11. How does Makina characterize new ways of saying things?
(a) As transformations of the old world.
(b) As new things themselves.
(c) As degradation of pure languages.
(d) As prophesies of a new world.

12. What does Makina’s brother say when Makina asks about the land?
(a) He asks if she has gone to see it, as if to say: you know it is worthless.
(b) He says that when he got there, the construction was just starting.
(c) He tells her a long and complicated lie about how he lost it.
(d) He tells her that he never got there, because he was robbed on the way.

13. Why did Makina’s brother not answer this person's question?
(a) He refused to condescend to answer.
(b) He refused to give the person an advantage by answering.
(c) He felt so much pity he was angry.
(d) He did not have enough of the language.

14. What does the narrator say is brimming in the immigrants’ language?
(a) Nostalgia.
(b) Patience.
(c) Grief.
(d) Powerlessness.

15. Whose place does Makina’s brother take in the army?
(a) An Anglo man.
(b) An intellectually-challenged teen.
(c) A dreamy man.
(d) A bad-tempered teen.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the man at the land her brother had gone to tell Makina was there from the beginning?

2. What did the family expect Makina’s brother to do for them?

3. How does the narrator describe Makina and her brother’s feelings when they walk out of the office?

4. What would happen if Makina’s brother died during the time at war?

5. What does Makina find when she arrives at the land her brother had gone to see?

(see the answer keys)

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