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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 the quote that Danticat uses to start Part Two of the book say that a brother is born for?

2. What do the neighborhood gangs and the neighbors do to Joseph's house?

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

4. What does Tante Denise think Marie Micheline really died from?

5. What does Danticat mistake the fire escape for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who first warns Joseph he may be in danger in October 2004 in Haiti?

2. What does Danticat's father do for work in the United States, and what are some of his challenges on the job?

3. Whose house does Joseph initially take refuge in when he is in hiding in Haiti in October 2004?

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

5. What happens to Joseph in Haiti in October 2004?

6. How does Danticat's brother Karl react to her when she first arrives in New York?

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

8. 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?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Go back to the section in the book in which Danticat recounts Tante Denise's story about the Angel of Death and Father God (143). Write an essay analyzing how the story relates to the Haitian peoples' history of oppression and brutality at the hands of countries like the United States, citing specific examples from the text in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Danticat's Uncle Joseph turn to religion? By the end of the book, does Joseph seem to have found the meaning he was searching for in his religious work? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 3

When Marie Micheline becomes pregnant out of wedlock in 1974, Tante Denise and Uncle Joseph are distraught, and they send Marie Micheline off to a distant part of town to have the baby. What does Marie Micheline's experience and Tante Denise's and Uncle Joseph's reaction to it indicate about the cultural attitudes towards women at that time in Haitian culture? Write an essay explaining your answer.

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