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

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is the young boy who dies from eating spoiled meat after the stampede?

2. Where does Dulce attempt to live after she becomes homeless?

3. Why does Ignacio choose to lie to his daughters about their mother's death?

4. Why doesn't Reina believe that their mother shot herself?

5. What interesting person does Reina see only once at her mother's grave?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Cuban revolution plays a small role in the background of the novel. How does the Cuban Revolution affect the main characters, the Aguero sisters, during the course of this novel? What symbolic importance does the war have on what is happening in the sisters' lives? Why might Cristina Garcia have chosen to include it in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

The bone that Blanca wore around her neck when Reina was a small child is of particular importance to her. Explain the way that Blanca wore the bone and what impact it had on Reina as a child. Then, explain what happened to the bone after Blanca died, and how it was eventually returned to its rightful owner.

Essay Topic 3

For three generations, men have been impossibly attracted to the Aguero women - from Blanca to Reina to Dulce. Compare/contrast the way that each of these women used their attractiveness to better their own lives, and the relationships that each of these women had with the men who admired them.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 358 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample