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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 father finally end up doing in New York that gives him professional success?
2. What kind of flowers did John bring home to Yolanda?
3. What did Rudy bring to Yolanda when they met later in life?
4. What is the shape of the cake at the beginning of the novel?
5. Who was Yolanda's psychiatrist?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Carla view the celebration dinner for the family's first American year? Why do the parents view it differently from the kids? What is this telling the reader?
2. What is the significance of the father asking for a cab to go to dinner?
3. Why did Carla want red sneakers? Why was the color so important?
4. What insults did John say to Yolanda? Was he teasing, or was he serious? Was the relationship really abusive, or was Yolanda putting her own spin on her memory?
5. How does Mr. Fanning react to his wife's drinking? What is the reaction of the girls' mother? Why does she react this way?
6. How is Yolanda cured of her mental illness? What brings her back to reality?
7. 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?
8. How were the mother's inventions an important part of her American life? What did this say about her ambitions for herself?
9. Why will Yolanda's mother not let her bang the drum? Why would she allow such a toy and then put limits on it? Does this confuse Yolanda? Why?
10. When Sandi shows artistic talent, the maid, Milagros, takes Sandi to her sick son and they both believe Sandi cures the boy. How does this tie into the image of Sandi's face as the Virgin Mary? For what art has Sandi suffered?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Once the family moves to America, what kind of life do the parents dream of for their daughters? With that in mind, why do they want to return the girls to the island every summer to find husbands? Doesn't that line of thinking contradict why they moved to the U.S. in the first place? What do the parents really want for their daughters?
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
How do you think this story would be different had the family never moved to the U.S.? What would have happened to the father? Do you think the grandfather had the political muscle to help the father and allow him to stay on the island? Why? Why not?
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This section contains 1,160 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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