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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. What does Joseph wear on his way out of Bel Air in the fall of 2004 so he will not be recognized?

2. Why does Joseph come to New York in the summer of 1983?

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

4. What is the term the authorities use to describe gang members?

5. What does Danticat think her bedclothes in the United States smell like?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are some neighbors angry with Joseph in October 2004?

2. How does Marie Micheline die?

3. Why does Tante Zi tell Joseph he could not have escaped himself?

4. 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?

5. What does Danticat's father have to say about having an only child?

6. In the section "Brother, I Leave You With a Heavy Heart," why is Danticat's father concerned about Joseph?

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

8. What folktale about hell does Danticat recall Granme Melina telling?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining the significance of Mira's first gift to Danticat when she arrives in the United States - a typewriter.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the effect that Joseph's mechanical voice box, which he acquires on a trip to the United States in the early 1980s, has on the rest of his life.

Essay Topic 3

Danticat explores the subject of death from several different angles and through the experiences of several different family members in this book. Write an essay analyzing her perception of Granme Melina's attitudes towards death, especially considering Granme Melina's many folktales and legends she told the children that dealt with that topic.

(see the answer keys)

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