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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 shocked Yolanda about the appearance of Rudy's parents?

2. Who helps Yolanda find the food she wants?

3. Where were the girls when the marijuana was found?

4. How did Yolanda meet Rudy Elmenhurst?

5. What happens to Sofia's father as the evening wears on at the party?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the mother missing about Yolanda's poetry? When she went to the readings, what did she think she was hearing?

2. 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?

3. What does Yolanda think when she sees the snow falling? Where does she get this idea?

4. Why does the father say they fired Gladys? Why is trust so important to this family? How much to they rely on the servants for help?

5. Why is Carla embarrassed to tell the police officers what happened to her on her walk home from school?

6. How is Yolanda viewed by the other people on the island? How does the owner of the cantina see her? The boy? The workers who help her with her car?

7. 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?

8. What did Sister Zoe tell the students about the Cuban Missile Crisis? How much description did she give to the kids? Why?

9. What is significant about the rift between Sofia and her father? What does this say about his attitudes in their new country?

10. How does Yolanda lose the drumsticks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

What is symbolic about the toys that grandmother returns with from New York? Why does she always bring gifts? Do you think she feels guilty about the children being born into a family that is in danger? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 3

What kind of political situation was in place on the island when the girls were little? Did the fact that the girls seem unaware of the dangers on the island have anything to do with the trauma after their move to the U.S.? Do you think the girls would have done better had they been better informed as children, or would the same fear have taken over as it did during the Cuban Missile Crisis years later? Were they not told because they were girls? Would they have been treated differently as boys? Why do you think that?

(see the answer keys)

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