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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 Lourdes and Rufino decide to live?

2. Why do Lourdes and Rufino originally leave Cuba?

3. What does Lourdes tell her visitors to do in Ordinary Seductions: A Grove of Lemons?

4. In Ordinary Seductions: Celia's Letters: 1942-1949, which author does Celia read?

5. What did a santera once see on Celia's palm?

Short Essay Questions

1. What agreement for marriage do Jorge and Celia make?

2. Why does Lourdes fire her new employee at the bakery?

3. According to rumors, why have yanquis ringed the island with nuclear poison?

4. How does Lourdes connect with her husband?

5. What happens to Celia after her parents divorce?

6. What happens when the soldiers return to the ranch?

7. What qualities make Lourdes an irritating force to her family?

8. How does Celia know her husband has died?

9. What commitment does Celia make after Jorge dies?

10. When Celia's great aunt takes her to the santera, what prediction is made for Celia's life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do Celia's political views shape her parenting? How have Celia's children responded to her devotion to El Lider? How might her views influence her to stay in Cuba, rather than live in the U.S., where she could be closer to Pilar?

Essay Topic 2

Why does Celia choose a life of questioning and wondering? How does this way of life help her? How does it hurt her?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Lourdes overeat at the beginning of the novel? Why might Lourdes later feel a sudden need to be empty? What does Lourdes's weight represent in the novel?

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