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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 does the girls' father give to the girls when they return home?

2. What are the names the girls called their mother to make fun of her leisure activity?

3. Who helps Yolanda find the food she wants?

4. What did Rudy try to get Yolanda to do?

5. What did Rudy ask Yolanda to borrow the first time he spoke to her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the code that Mrs. Garcia sends to Don Victor via Chino? What does it mean? Is this also part of the safety plan?

2. How does Sister Zoe explain what snow is? Why is this explanation important to Yolanda?

3. When Mrs. Garcia makes a plate of food for the men in her house, what does she do to assure them that the food is okay?

4. Why does Sofia give her father the wet kiss in his ear? What is she trying to prove to her father? Why does this anger her father?

5. Explain the significance of the cake. What does each candle represent? Is there another meaning to the cake?

6. How is Yolanda cured of her mental illness? What brings her back to reality?

7. Why did Yolanda like Sister Zoe so much? What did the nun do to make Yolanda feel welcome and important?

8. In the first chapter, why is the boy crying on the side of the road? Why would nobody believe him when he went for help? What does this say about the country?

9. Who is Yolanda talking to when she tells the story of John? Why is this important?

10. How did the girls' mother view finding the marijuana? What does this symbolize for the mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the three encounters with nudity in the novel? How does each encounter seem to affect the child? Is there long-term damage to the child or is it quickly forgotten? Why do you think so? Since the stories are told through history, how accurate do you think the stories are?

Essay Topic 2

It seems the father is always fighting a battle, no matter where he lives. Who is the villain on the island and who becomes the villain once the family arrives in America? What demons must the father fight to protect his family and keep them safe? After the move, he is still fighting demons, just different ones. How does that affect the family?

Essay Topic 3

Why do all the servants who work for the family have wild backgrounds? Why do some of the servants dabble in voodoo or magic? How does all this relate to Sandi curing one of the servant's children and the sculptor using her face as the face of the Virgin Mary? What does this say about the society at large on the island?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,000 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample