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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The woman realizes at one point that the boy and girl use the term "lost children" (74) to refer to whom?
(a) Trafficked children.
(b) Child refugees.
(c) Ghosts.
(d) Cousins.

2. At the time of the narrative's beginning, which character has just had a birthday the previous day?
(a) The husband.
(b) The boy.
(c) The girl.
(d) The wife.

3. The family is pulled over for what kind of traffic violation at one point early in their road trip?
(a) Running a red light.
(b) Not stopping at a stop sign.
(c) Jaywalking.
(d) Speeding.

4. How old is the girl upon the narrative's opening?
(a) 9.
(b) 5.
(c) 7.
(d) 11.

5. What animal does the boy hope will appear in the photograph he takes at the Baltimore aquarium?
(a) A fish.
(b) A starfish.
(c) An octopus.
(d) A turtle.

Short Answer Questions

1. What country is NOT considered a part of the Northern Triangle?

2. What is the subject of the sound documentary the woman begins creating after finishing the language project?

3. Into what part of Manuela's daughters' dresses does their grandmother sew Manuela's phone number?

4. Toward what state does the family set out at the start of the narrative?

5. What past tense verb does the woman use to describe the action she and the man had taken in relation to language for their long-term collaborative project?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe an instance when the girl's vivacious personality influences the rest of the family's behavior.

2. What "superstitious impulse" (68) is the woman always unable to resist?

3. What prompts the woman to begin to record the man's Apache stories as he tells them?

4. What does the reader learn about La Bestia when the family listens to a radio interview with a child refugee?

5. For what purpose does the family plan to travel to Lawton?

6. When the woman is conflicted about whether to record the sounds of the family's road trip, what does she say she wishes she could do instead?

7. For what purpose does the family at the center of the narrative bring bankers' boxes along on their road trip?

8. How is the road trip from New York to Arizona a symbol of the family's imminent separation?

9. Compare and contrast the woman's response to the boy's angry outbursts with the man's reaction.

10. Describe how Luiselli uses the theme of appearance versus reality to characterize the notion of romantic partnership.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,410 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample