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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. In "The Dead Man," who does Otalora want to replace as leader of the gang?
(a) Bandeira.
(b) A beautiful, red-haired woman.
(c) Suarez.
(d) Pancho Villa.

2. In "The Aleph," what is the Aleph?
(a) A strange bird.
(b) A sword said to have belonged to Saladin.
(c) A mystical portal to visions of the past and present.
(d) The key to translating an unknown language.

3. In "A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829-1874)," what is Tadeo's punishment for killing a man?
(a) He is sent to the army.
(b) He is whipped.
(c) He goes to jail.
(d) He is put into slavery.

4. In "Three Versions of Judas," who is Nils Runeberg?
(a) A rabbi.
(b) An amateur Bible enthusiast.
(c) A theologian.
(d) A detective, hired by the Vatican, who tracks heretics.

5. In "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," what is Orbis Tertius?
(a) An undiscovered number.
(b) The narrator's award for Latin, that he received in college.
(c) The trade name for a secret society that describes Tlon and Uqbar.
(d) Herbert Ashe's code name.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain," how does Quain react when he does have some artistic success?

2. In "Funes, His Memory," the powers of Funes can best be described as which of the following?

3. In "The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero," which writer's work is partially a model for the assassination?

4. In "The Widow Ching--Pirate," what prompts the protagonist to become a pirate?

5. In "The Theologians," whose doctrine does Aurelian want to defeat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the theme in "The Mirror of Ink."

2. In "The Circular Ruins," a man creates another man in a dream and ultimately discovers that he is a dream himself. Is Borges making a possible connection to the artistic process?

3. In "Pierre Menard, Author of Quixote," Menard wants to rewrite Cervantes' novel word for word. Why does he want to pursue such an exercise in seeming futility?

4. In "The Wait," what does Villari do when his assassins actually show up? Why does he do this?

5. In "The Lottery in Babylon," what could the lottery symbolize?

6. In "Monk Eastman Purveyor of Iniquities," what first stops Monk's criminal life of violence, and then what allows him to continue this violence in a new form?

7. In "The End," does the black man who plays his guitar and continually waits outside the bar get what he has been waiting for?

8. In "Hakim The Masked Dyer of Merv," Hakim's sect abhor mirrors and copulation. What is the significance of this abhorrence?

9. In "The Other Death," how does Borges suggest that Pedro Damian could actually be both a hero and a coward?

10. In "The Dead Man," why does Bandeira allow Otalora to sleep with his woman and enjoy a sense of power?

(see the answer keys)

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