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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. Where is Mixtli from?

2. At what pivotal moment does Cozcatl rejoin Mixtli?

3. What is unique about Chimali's hair?

4. What happens during the "five hollow days" in Mixtli's hometown?

5. How does Chimali hide his hair as a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who tells Mixtli the truth about what has happened to his sister?

2. What kinds of costumes do children wear to celebrate the end of the hollow days?

3. What kind act does Mixtli do for Flame Flower?

4. Why doesn't Mixtli have sex with the female slave that all of the young men from his hometown hire?

5. What prediction does a stranger, who is sitting on a bench, make about Mixtli's future shortly after his renaming ceremony?

6. How does Mixtli's sister seduce him?

7. In the opening of the book, what does Mixtli's sister, Tzitzilini, get punished for?

8. What favor does Mixtli ask of his friends Tlatli and Chimali after his sister is summoned by the priests?

9. Why do the Maya purposefully deform their faces?

10. Who is the cacao-colored man who often wanders the streets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several characters in the story are married -- often more than once -- throughout the novel. Discuss the function of marriage within Aztec and what message, if any, Jennings is trying to convey about marriage itself through his characters.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss three literary devices Jennings uses to incorporate brutality and violence in a novel in such a way that the story itself, while containing these aspects, does not become one of brutality and violence. Make sure to use examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

Using direct evidence from the text, discuss what Mixtli's near-sightedness symbolizes and at least 3 literary devices Jennings uses to convey this symbolism.

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