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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The thing Makina sees once she is across the rive is not, in fact, a good omen: What is it?

2. What does Mr. Aitch wait to do, before he gives Makina the thing he wants her to deliver?

3. What does the narrator say affected Makina for the first time with this sinkhole?

4. Where does Makina find Mr. Double-U?

5. How does Makina describe Mr. Aitch?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Makina handle the harassment she faces on the bus?

2. What is Mr. Q’s style of speaking like?

3. What is Makina’s trip through the mountains like?

4. What kind of relationship does Makina have with her boyfriend?

5. What arrangement does Mr. Double-U make for Makina?

6. How does Mr. P. help Makina in her quest?

7. What does Makina have to establish in her meetings with each of the three top dogs?

8. Why does Cora send Makina to talk to the top dogs?

9. How does the narrator describe the city Makina arrives in?

10. What kind of omen does Makina think she sees in the beginning of Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the role of women in Signs Preceding the End of the World? How are women portrayed, and what kinds of roles are open to them? How would you evaluate Herrera’s depiction of women in this novel?

Essay Topic 2

Explore the role of the helper characters in Signs Preceding the End of the World. From Chucho to the old women and men, Makina gets assistance from a number of places. What do these supporting characters have in common? How do they compare to the characters who threaten Makina? What do those characters have in common as well?

What are the values that animate supporting characters on either side? How do these supporting characters, both benevolent and threatening, imply competing world views?

Essay Topic 3

Identify the most important plot points in Signs Preceding the End of the World. What is at stake in each of these moments? What possibilities do these moments present, and how are those possibilities channeled into specific actions or events? How does the plot chart its course among other alternative or possible plots?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 778 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample