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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. Where do Tillie and Luis Abeyta take the boys when Antonia claims to have a headache?

2. What does Jazz think her parents talk about at the country club?

3. When Karen asks Antonia what she wanted to do for a career, what does Antonia reply?

4. What does Jazz believe is her mother's motivation for living?

5. Why does Jazz refuse to go to the competition?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jazz beg Antonia not to tell Jazz's friends about her playing the piano?

2. How does Antonia defend her Dad's abandonment of the family?

3. Explain why Antonia tells Jazz that her foster family are ugly, evil little gones who keep them locked up?

4. How does Antonia describe her sense of isolation and loneliness after seeing her mother in the hospital?

5. What does Jazz say about the definition of a dream?

6. Explain Antonia's reaction to Karen.

7. What was the last thing that Antonia's father said to her?

8. What memory comes back to Antonia when she hears Jazz play "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn"?

9. Why does Jazz give-in and go to her piano recital dressed in the blue velvet dress?

10. What does Mrs. Luther threaten to do if Jazz quits the piano, and how does this threat affect Jazz?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Every story has a plot. Discuss the five elements of plot structure. Provide one specific example from the book for each of the five elements.

Essay Topic 2

Mental illness is a painful topic. Discuss Antonia's mother's illness and the effect that it has had on her family. At the end of your discussion, make a prediction on the future of Antonia's family. Will Antonia and her brothers be able to get over the pain caused by this disease and move ahead? Will Antonia's mom continue to take her meds and learn to handle her illness or will she relapse? Why do you make this prediction?

Essay Topic 3

While Ram is a secondary character, he is integral to the book as a whole. Who is Ram? What is he like? What is his importance to the overall structure of the novel?

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