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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To which of the following does Paz reduce the Mexican character? (Chapter Four, page 73).
(a) The Mexican does not dare or want to be himself.
(b) The Mexican is himself only in the crowd of a fiesta or ceremony.
(c) The Mexican only lives when he faces death.
(d) The Mexican is stronger when he is alone.

2. What mentality does Paz attribute to the Mexican?
(a) Master.
(b) Victim.
(c) Leader.
(d) Servant.

3. Why is the fiesta, at its core, a revolution?
(a) It has no regard for religious mores.
(b) It dissolves society.
(c) It allows man to be something different.
(d) Man is finally free.

4. What is the most valued trait in both the military and political realms?
(a) Courage.
(b) Kindness.
(c) Stoicism.
(d) Valor.

5. Why did the sense of Mexicanism "float" in the air of Los Angeles?
(a) It did not mix with the North American efficiency or precision.
(b) People struggled to retain Mexican identity in a foreign land.
(c) No one truly knew that it meant to be Mexican.
(d) It was an ethereal sense of nationality.

6. Why do Mexicans tell lies (Chapter Two)?
(a) To hide themselves.
(b) To create confusion.
(c) To protect the other person.
(d) Merely for the enjoyment of it.

7. What is the French sociologists' interpretation of the fiesta?
(a) The people's misunderstanding of life increases their desire for death.
(b) The people's disregard for death increases their sense of life.
(c) The people's squandering of money appeases the gods.
(d) The people's disregard for obligations enhances their sense of time.

8. In Paz's view, why does the Spaniard still use and enjoy blasphemy?
(a) Because he curses for dramatic effect.
(b) Because he cannot curse creatively.
(c) Because he no longer believes in God.
(d) Because he still believes in God.

9. In Latin America, what was the importance of Jose Gorostiza's poem, Muerte sin Fin?
(a) It was the last example of the colonial mindset.
(b) It presented the Spanish conquest through the eyes of modernity.
(c) It presented the best example of the Mexican fascination with horror.
(d) It was the best evidence of a truly modern awareness.

10. Paz states that a Mexican utters the words that are considered most evil when which of the following occurs?
(a) When he wants to invoke the evil contained in the words.
(b) When he is not in control of himself.
(c) When he is extremely angry.
(d) When he wants to get his point across.

11. What do a pachuco's actions and lifestyle demonstrate?
(a) His desire to return to Mexico.
(b) His will to remain different.
(c) His anger at a culture that will not assimilate him.
(d) His dissatisfaction with North American culture.

12. What is Paz's opinion about Western respect for life?
(a) It is truthful and realistic.
(b) It illustrates man's limitations.
(c) It is either hypocritical or incomplete.
(d) It is not convincing.

13. In Paz's understanding of genders, how do Mexican women become like men?
(a) Through sacrifice.
(b) In love.
(c) Through suffering.
(d) Through self-denial.

14. As Paz begins Chapter Two, he says that the Mexican is always afraid to glance at his neighbor. What reason does he give for that?
(a) His neighbor is a pathetic version of himself.
(b) The glance could reveal his isolation.
(c) The glance could spark rage.
(d) His neighbor reveals the disillusioned character of Mexico.

15. How does the philosophy of progress treat death?
(a) It minimizes death.
(b) It treats death as one more step in life.
(c) It disregards death entirely.
(d) It pretends to make death disappear.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Paz's estimation, woman is a living representation of which of the following?

2. How does a man become "like the angels" (Chapter Three, page 61)?

3. Why are people sad if a person dies badly (Chapter Three)?

4. What duality does the pachuco represent?

5. Why are a woman's instincts those of a species rather than her own?

(see the answer keys)

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