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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many letters does Danticat write on her typewriter to Uncle Joseph?
(a) One.
(b) A dozen.
(c) Hundreds.
(d) Thousands.

2. In Granme Melina's story about hell, how is hell defined?
(a) As total isolation.
(b) As the thing you fear the most.
(c) As a fire with no relief.
(d) As other people.

3. Who helps make the arrangements for Tante Denise's funeral?
(a) Danticat's cousin Richard.
(b) A neighbor named Fernal.
(c) American missionaries from the church.
(d) Pressoir.

4. Why do some of Joseph's neighbors turn on him so violently after October 24, 2004?
(a) They think he allowed the UN soldiers and riot police to shoot at neighborhood people from the roof of his church.
(b) They think he is stealing from the church's coffers.
(c) They think he sold information to the police.
(d) They think he blackmailed a beloved teacher.

5. What does Danticat's father have to say about having only children?
(a) Only children are spoiled.
(b) God did not make us with one eye.
(c) Only children are the happiest.
(d) Only children are vulnerable.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Aristide leave office less than a year after being sworn in in 1991?

2. What does Leone, Tante Denise's sister, say about the shooting outside Denise's funeral?

3. What is the cause of the gunfire Joseph hears in Bel Air on October 24, 2004?

4. Where does Danticat take Joseph for his medical exam in 1983?

5. Which person was sworn in as president of Haiti in 1991?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Danticat mistake the fire escape of her family's New York apartment for?

2. Why does Danticat suspect her brother Bob asks for seconds of dinner on their first night in New York back with their parents?

3. How does Joseph eventually convince Maxo to leave the house under cover of darkness in October 2004?

4. What is the first present Danticat's father gives to her upon her arrival in the United States?

5. What do some of the neighborhood gang members demand of Joseph in October 2004?

6. What factor about Danticat's pregnancy causes her some anxiety?

7. How does Tante Zi get Joseph out of hiding and safely to the airport in October 2004?

8. What does Danticat's father say when, as a child, she asks him what he would like to do if he could do something other than his actual job?

9. In the section "Brother, I Can Speak," how does Danticat's father refer to Danticat and Bob in front of Joseph when he comes to visit in New York?

10. When Joseph visits New York in 1983, what life-changing device does he receive from the hospital?

(see the answer keys)

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