View a FREE sample

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 Awful Grandmother agree to do?

2. Why does Soledad's daughter hate her?

3. Whose ghost does Celaya see when she visits her father?

4. Who takes Soledad's part and stands up for her in the story?

5. Who wants Narciso to marry Soledad?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Inocencio attain his profession of upholsterer?

2. What advice did people give Soledad about taking care of herself as a young woman?

3. Describe Celaya's encounter with the Grandmother's ghost in Inocencio's hospital room.

4. Why does Celaya want to leave school and what is her father's response to her idea?

5. Even though they both had behaved inappropriately, how did Narciso save Inocencio from a fate similar to his own?

6. What are the conditions under which Inocencio is able to buy the San Antonio house?

7. What is Narciso's relationship with Soledad when they begin having sex?

8. What lie did Narciso tell about his three missing ribs and what is the truth of the story?

9. What role does storytelling play in the family's life?

10. Describe the chaos of the Mexican Revolution.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the overall ethnic culture for the book. What influences does ethnicity have on Cisneros' novel? What is the time period of the story? How important is the time period to the attitudes and issues reflected in the work?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the significance of the book's title--CARAMELO. Why did Cisneros choose this title? Is there an understood message in the title? Is there another title you can suggest that might be more appropriate?

Essay Topic 3

Resentment seems to be an unnamed character in the book. How pervasive is resentment in the Reyes family? Explain how an inanimate object or characteristic can be a character.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,099 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample