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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. What point of view is the story told from?
(a) Third person ominiscent.
(b) Third person limited.
(c) Second person.
(d) First person.

2. During the last visit with the children, what did Danny struggle to do with Ayah?
(a) Speak Navajo.
(b) Hug.
(c) Play.
(d) Work.

3. According to Ayah, what makes the government worker frightened?
(a) Chato's scarred hands.
(b) The foreign items and Navajo language being spoken.
(c) Ayah's anger.
(d) The rural landscape on the reservation.

4. Whom did the government person talk to about Jimmie's death?
(a) Ayah.
(b) Chato.
(c) Ayah's mother.
(d) The white rancher.

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 was a stranger.
(c) He worked hard.
(d) He was broken.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Ayah thinks back to the times she spent with her two children, what does she think happened?

2. How did Ayah punish Chato for teaching her English and failing to keep her kids from being taken away?

3. How does Ayah mourn Jimmie?

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

5. What kind of tree does Ayah sit under as she thinks about her life?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jimmie's true Navajo name being reduced to something as common as "Jimmie" in English say about the white man?

2. Why did Ayah search for Chato?

3. What is the significance of Ayah offering half her blanket to Chato as they walk down the road?

4. How does Ayah's fear of the white doctors drive her to give away her children?

5. Why did Ayah not say good-bye to Danny and Ella during the last visit?

6. Why did Chato not like walking behind the old sheep he and Ayah owned?

7. Why does the death of Jimmie serve as an important memory for Ayah and for the reader?

8. Why was the walk back to the bar a "hard walk" for Ayah?

9. What is the importance of the lullaby at the end of the story?

10. What does Silko mean when she says that Ayah's life becomes memories?

(see the answer keys)

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