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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 Isabel show Tomas in the shed of her house?

2. What does Tomas always call his mother?

3. Who asks for a transfer to another facility in the beginning of Chapter Fifteen?

4. Where does Tomas travel to in Chapter Nineteen?

5. What is Tomas hoping Anibal might do for him in Chapter Fifteen?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the Colonel tell Tomas about some of the most terrible torturers at Automotores?

2. What would happen to prisoners who needed a defibrillator if Tomas was on his days off?

3. Why does Tomas feel especially sorry for Elizabeth?

4. In Chapter Fifteen, why is Tomas particularly nervous when Anibal calls him into his office?

5. What is one major problem Tomas's wife Claire has confronted him about, which he recalls in Chapter 10?

6. What does Isabel show Tomas in the shed behind her house?

7. What does Tomas recall about his mother's death?

8. In Chapter 11, what does Tomas tell Isabel about his first few weeks at Automotores?

9. What do Tomas's co-workers at Automotores call him, and why?

10. In Chapter Sixteen, what does Tomas learn about the Colonel that could hurt the Colonel's position in the army if others knew about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Tomas describe the actions and attitudes of everyday Argentinians who witness the brutality of the juntas? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Loedel describe Tomas's own experience of torture, and how does this description differ from his earlier renderings of the torturing of prisoners? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay discussing the symbolic significance of chess in Tomas's and the Colonel's relationship.

(see the answer keys)

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