View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the father's hiding place from the secret police?

2. What did the Garcias do each year to celebrate coming to America?

3. What story was Yolanda reading when her cousin tried to get her attention with the clay snake?

4. What game did the cousins play on the patio after their morning swim?

5. What was Yolanda's 4th grade teacher's name?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

At the end of the story, as Yolanda describes the cat that haunts her dreams, do you sense that Yolanda is completely sane? Why? Why not? What does the end of the story tell us about Yolanda's future? Will she overcome her demons and live a normal life or will she always be haunted by the cat and everything it symbolizes?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 307 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample