View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the Vodou philosophy, the world is a precarious place, and it is naïve to think what?

2. This chapter opens with Alourdes, Karen and a Jamaican woman named Mabel traveling to Jamaica and then onto Haiti in January of _________.

3. What does Alourdes ask Karen?

4. Each of these spirits exists in close relation to one another and, when considered as a group, are able to quite accurately paint a portrait of whom?

5. This chapter is a story about the life of Alourdes' ______________, Philomise.

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Philo's plans for Alourdes, prior to her birth? How does this plan change?

2. What is Alourdes' response regarding Catholic priests? What does this reveal about Haitians?

3. What similarity exists between Marie Claire and Maggie?

4. What does this chapter reiterate about the responsibility of serving the spirits?

5. What do the initiates have to do in the cemetery?

6. How does Philo feel about Alourdes? Why might she feel this way?

7. How is myth important in Alourdes' life of Vodou?

8. What do all the women in this family have in common?

9. What is one of the best stories in this chapter? Why?

10. Compare the focus on morality and sexuality in the Vodou culture as compared the many people in America? How do these differences affect many Americans' views of Vodou?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much of life in Vodou culture is out of the people's hands.

Part 1) Describe the role of Vodou spirits in Haitian culture. How are they important in everyday life in Haiti? How do these spirits guide Haitians in the decisions they make and the way they behave?

Part 2) Is there concrete evidence in this book that the Haitians are controlled by Vodou spirits? Explain. Are Haitians the only ones who feel their lives are guided by these spirits? Why or why not?

Part 3) Who or what guides the lives of most Americans? How does this compare to the Vodou spirits? How does this affect the lives of most Americans and our country as a whole?

Essay Topic 2

There are four steps in the initiation ritual.

Part 1) What are these four steps? Describe and analyze each step. What is the purpose of each step? How does one step lead to another? What do these steps reveal or reinforce about Vodou?

Part 2) How does this initiation rite compare to rituals found in other religions and organizations? Why do these similarities exist?

Part 3) In what rituals have you participated? Why? How did you feel about these rituals and other religious rituals? Why is ritual important to humans?

Essay Topic 3

There is a growing need for Manbos.

Part 1) What is a manbo? How is this person important in Vodou culture? Why are manbos increasingly more important in Haiti? What does this reveal about Vodou culture and life in Haiti?

Part 2) How are these cultural changes seen in other cultures around the world? How is religion becoming more important in some cultures? Why?

Part 3) Would you want to be a manbo? Why or why not? Would you be able to accept a role such as this in another religious organization, if it were offered to you or asked of you? Why or why not? How do manbos reflect the role of religious leaders in a community?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,160 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample