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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. Ayah remembers what types of items in the black pot that are used for dying wool?
(a) Berries, sage, and beeweed petals.
(b) Ink dyes.
(c) Berries, herbs, and plants.
(d) Flowers.

2. What does Ayah remember is remarkable about elkhide moccasins?
(a) They are traditional shoes.
(b) They keep a person's legs warm.
(c) They keep a person's legs dry in the snow.
(d) They are handmade.

3. What does Ayah remember happening to Jimmie?
(a) He stopped contacting her.
(b) He never came home.
(c) He moved away.
(d) The earth swallowed him up.

4. When the children visited for the last time, why did Ayah not say goodbye?
(a) Because she forgot.
(b) Because they didn't understand her.
(c) Because they didn't say goodbye to her.
(d) Because she turned away from them.

5. When Ayah looked at Chato's scarred hands and at his face, what did she think of him?
(a) He was her husband.
(b) He worked hard.
(c) He was broken.
(d) He was a stranger.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the main character wear when thinking of her children?

2. Where does the story take place?

3. Who is the main character in the story?

4. When Danny and Ella came to visit, whom does Ayah remember came with them?

5. What is trapped in Ayah's hair as she moves through the bar?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of Ayah recognizing one of the white doctors who came to her home?

2. In what ways is the older Navajo men's warning about language--to learn their language or any of their ways endangers you--borne out throughout the story?

3. What is significant about Chato in his drunken state, telling Ayah, "You know they can't run that ranch without me"?

4. What does Ayah's walk back to the bar symbolize?

5. Why did Ayah search for Chato?

6. What did Ayah feel when she enters Azzie's Bar in search of Chato?

7. Why didn't Ayah mourn Jimmie's death when she first hears the news?

8. What is the significance of Ayah's tracks in the snow being filled by the falling snow until they're gone? How does this apply to Ayah's memories?

9. Why does Ayah point out that Chato speaks both English and Spanish during the scene with the Army official? Why is this important?

10. In the opening paragraph of "Lullaby", Ayah reaches out to touch the falling snow--like her babies do--and this makes her smile. Describe how this analogy to youth ties into the title of the short story.

(see the answer keys)

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