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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. In Paz's estimation, what vital word has the Mexican forgotten?

2. When does the pachuco become his true self?

3. Paz says that during critical moments in a nation's development, the people ask themselves a critical question. What is that question?

4. From what does a fiesta free the Mexican, in Paz's understanding?

5. Aside from being an excess, what does the fiesta revolt against?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the modern view of death? How is it dramatically different from the Aztec view?

2. Who is the Virgin of Guadalupe? How is she an important part of Mexican identity?

3. What mutual problem do both the Mexican and the North American face? What is the solution to that problem?

4. What is the Mexican view of death? When does death become saddest?

5. Who represents the conflict that Mexicans have not been able to solve? What effect does that conflict have on their culture?

6. How did the Aztecs view sin? How does that idea explain the Conquest? What enormous change did Catholicism introduce?

7. What is the Mexican's ideal of manliness? How does it affect his interactions with other people?

8. In Chapter Three, the following idea is presented: "There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning" (Chapter 3, page 53). What does that mean?

9. What group of people did the author have in mind as he wrote the book? How and why did those people become important to him?

10. How do Mexicans view their bodies? How does their view contribute to their wish for privacy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Man is alone everywhere. But the solitude of the Mexican, under the great stone night of the high plateau that is still inhabited by insatiable gods, is very different from that of the North American, who wanders in an abstract world of machines, fellow citizens and moral precepts" (Chapter One, pg 20). What does that mean? Is it true?

Essay Topic 2

Does Paz's writing style mirror the subject? When is he vociferous? When does it feel that he is holding something back?

Essay Topic 3

What is Mexico's relation to the rest of the world? How is it different from the past? What are Paz's hopes and fears for the future? Do you agree or disagree with his ideas?

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