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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. In the American school, who was the Hoover girl?

2. What invitation did the mother give to the person she met at the hospital?

3. What was the hidden agenda behind the four girls spending summers in the Dominican Republic?

4. How did the mother dress her daughters when they were small?

5. What does the cantina owner offer Yolanda to drink?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Chucha not think it is a good idea for Carla to be back in the maid's room? What does this say about the relationships between the servants and the family?

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

3. Who are the Guardia? What do they do when they come to the de la Torres compound? Why do they take the actions that they do?

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

5. What is important about the dinner with the Fannings? Why is it so important to the girls' parents?

6. Why are the boys not interested in Yolanda once she gets to college? What changed between high school and college?

7. It is clear from the moment the men in khakis walk up the driveway of the Garcia home that the Garcias have a plan in case of danger. What is their plan and how do they execute it?

8. When the father returns from the U.S. what is he discussing with his wife? Why are they talking about the skyrocketing prices in the U.S.?

9. How does Mr. Garcia escape? What are the girls allowed to take with them? What will happen to the house when they are gone?

10. What does Yolanda see in her sleep every night? What does this mean? She continues to see the same image after they move to America and as an adult? What does Yolanda think it is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do you think being raised around all men with machismo affected the girls in their lives? How do they end up viewing men like their father and other men from the island? Are they attracted to men like this in later life? What about Otto? Does he possess these same qualities?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

It seems important in the novel for the children to be educated, even if only for a few years, in America. What do you think is the opinion of U.S. colleges as compared to colleges on the island? What is an education in America going to give the children that they will not receive at home? It also seems important to travel to America for those who can afford it. Is it viewed as an important part of the childrens' education to be exposed to America?

(see the answer keys)

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