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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. In “What Are Days,” the speaker compares the days of May to whom?

2. What do the boys do before the attack on the soldier takes place?

3. In “Momma Galya First Protested,” Momma Galya smokes a cigarette and shouts to the soldiers to do what?

4. In “Soldiers Don’t Like Looking Foolish,” whose names are posted on the wall?

5. What does Alfonso down like a shot of vodka before killing the soldier?

Short Essay Questions

1. When and how is Momma Galya compared to the wind?

2. During the day, Galya, riding her green bicycle, does what to the checkpoints?

3. How does Alfonso try to make life fun for his daughter?

4. In “A Bundle of Laundry,” what has happened to Anushka?

5. What takes place right before and after the killing of the soldier?

6. How does Alfonso struggle with his wife’s death, based on what is said in “I, This Body”?

7. How is the soldier treated prior to being killed?

8. What are two things the speaker says in “Such Is the Story Made of Stubbornness and a Little Air”?

9. Why does the speaker consider Momma Galya the luckiest woman in the country?

10. In “I, This Body,” how does Alfonso explain how he manages to make it through his wife’s funeral?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The first person shot and killed is a young deaf boy. What leads to his death? Why might he have acted this way? Do you see this as brave or foolish? Why or why not? Might he have realized the repercussions of his actions? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

In less than a year the lives of the Vasenka townspeople are turned upside down. Sonya is taken from her baby and murdered three days postpartum. What is the impact of this quick decline in the town of Vasenka on the reader? What does this say about one's own safety and security? What does this also reveal about what humans are capable of doing to other humans?

Essay Topic 3

Alfonso is in shock that his wife, the door-slammer, is dead and he, the fool, is alive. Are you, the reader, as shocked as he is? Why or why not? How are others in this poetry collection door-slammers or fools? What does this say about people? What is the message given to the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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