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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 "Absolution in the New Year", what does the girl's mother offer to console her?

2. In "Fever", what does the girl compare pain to?

3. What does the girl do with her diary at the end of "Absolution in the New Year"?

4. In "An Early Mystery", what does the woman ask the girl?

5. What does the girl do with the fruit she picks in "From the Book of Dreams in Spanish"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the salesman never allowed back in the girl's home in "Not For Sale"?

2. When the woman in "Advanced Biology" thinks back to Ira, what does she wonder?

3. In "The Lesson of the Sugarcane", why does the girl feel she was taken to the car?

4. In "How to Get a Baby", what part of nature helps perpetuate life?

5. How does the author use the Bible to describe Fidel Castro?

6. In "Unspoken", what does the mother want to tell her daughter?

7. What does the girl say the book of dreams in Spanish does not tell her?

8. What happens at Juan de Dios's funeral?

9. Why does the girl's mother cry when she sees Castro on the television?

10. In "The Story of My Body", what has the girl come to desire after marriage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore the role of fathers in "The Latin Deli". How are fathers described? What actions do they take? How do they interact and develop the characters of their children? How does the Puerto Rican father figure fit into American society?

Essay Topic 2

How is education represented in "The Latin Deli"? How is school described and what impact does it have on the characters? What is the author's commentary on education? What does she value most?

Essay Topic 3

Describe three instances of folklore or legend that are used in "The Latin Deli". Define the genre and explain how it fits in among the lives of these characters. What is the value of folklore? How does the use of it define this novel?

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