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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 is located at the far corner of the bar?
(a) A wood stove.
(b) A pool table.
(c) A vending machine.
(d) A bathroom.

2. What does the main character wear when thinking of her children?
(a) A blanket.
(b) A robe.
(c) A swimsuit.
(d) A coat.

3. Where does Ayah remember her mother using the loom?
(a) Beside her grandmother.
(b) Under the shade of a tamarack tree.
(c) Outside their hogan.
(d) Inside their hogan.

4. As Ayah thinks about her children, she recalls what about them?
(a) They are turning into white people.
(b) They are loving to her.
(c) They love their culture.
(d) They honor her wishes.

5. What is the overall tone of the first half of the story?
(a) Peace.
(b) Loss.
(c) Contentment.
(d) Joy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ayah remember happening to Jimmie?

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

3. What addiction does Chato have?

4. What are the sounds Ayah hears at the beginning of section two?

5. What did Jimmie send to Ayah from the war?

Short Essay Questions

1. Ayah signs the papers the white doctors want, feeling proud that she can sign her name in English. Why does this simple act of signing her name cost her so much?

2. When Ayah openly accuses the whites of lying, why does Chato's words, "It's too late now", symbolic of the white and Native American relationships of the past?

3. How is losing Danny and Ella "worse than if they died" to Ayah?

4. Why does Silko make a point of stating that the white doctors came before they hire Navajo women to go with them as interpreters?

5. Why did Ayah feel relieved that the wine and the government money were gone?

6. What is the significance of the doctors returning the next day with a police officer?

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

8. Why does the men's fear in the bar satisfy Ayah?

9. Why does thinking about weaving bring Ayah peace during the first scene 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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