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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 is the name of the Nietos' family doctor?

2. Who is driving the car discussed in Chapter 26?

3. Which person in Carlos's church is the most adept at using a fan?

4. Which philosopher does Carlos despise?

5. What type of car does Carlos ride to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Havana on New Year's Eve, as portrayed in Chapter 1. What has happened to affect the city this way?

2. What happened to Carlos's great-great-grandmother Butrón-Múgicas?

3. What is the significance of the mamey pit to Carlos?

4. Summarize the contents of the Cuban history lesson the boys receive at the beginning of Chapter 4.

5. In Chapter 20, how does Louis XVI deal with the man at the door?

6. How do Cubans relate to a statue of Saint Lazarus, and what connection does Carlos have with one?

7. Why does Louis XVI wish he could have afforded to be Pilate in the church murals?

8. How does Carlos feel about the poster he made in fourth grade?

9. Why does Carlos wish he could have been a Viking?

10. Where does Carlos see the Cuba-shaped clouds, and how does he feel about them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify two symbols of fear in the book. How are they similar, and how are they different? What other symbolic significances do they carry? Support your opinions with details from the book as much as possible.

Essay Topic 2

How does the breadfruit war function as a catharsis in the novel? What are the events that build tension before and after the war? How would the scene have seemed different if it had been placed somewhere separate from those tensions?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the idea of death in this book. What are the various moments that seem like a type of death? What are the moments that Carlos himself identifies as a death? Do you think death is a good symbol for those events, or do you think something else could more appropriately have symbolized them? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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