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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ygnacio refuse to do with his wife?

2. What was Bernarda Cabrera's position before she and Ygnacio married?

3. Why does Sierva lie to the doctor?

4. How does Ygnacio's wife die?

5. How did the Marquis's father view him when he was younger?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Bernarda and Ygnacio's relationship with Sierva.

2. Why does Ygnacio's father object to his son marrying Dulce Olivia?

3. What treatments does Sierva receive in her father's effort to cure her "madness?"

4. How does Sierva's relationship with her father improve in Chapter 2?

5. Why does the Marquis give his daughter to the Holy Office?

6. What is special about the tall slave girl brought into New Grenada from the ship?

7. How is rabies treated by the citizens of New Grenada from the first chapter?

8. Why does Sierva prefer to live in the slave quarters instead of the mansion?

9. Why does Sierva lie to Dr. Abrenuncio?

10. How does Ygnacio's first wife deal with her husband?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dr. Abrenuncio and Father Cayetano are the two most highly educated men in New Grenada. Citing specific examples from the text, discuss these two characters, including the following:

- Their differing backgrounds of science and faith.

- Their perceptions of each other, before and after they meet.

- Their concern over Sierva's fate.

- The possibilities of faith and science coming together, as exemplified by these two characters.

Essay Topic 2

Citing specific examples from the text, discuss the author's use of magic realism in this novel. In what ways does the author make this story true to life? In what ways is this story fantastical? (Please note that the term "fantastical" encompasses more than just the miracle of Sierva's hair growing after death and is meant as something that likely could not happen in real life).

Essay Topic 3

Citing specific examples from the text and including a strong thesis statement, analyze the shared dream of Father Cayetano and Sierva. In particular, discuss what the grapes, the snow, Spain, and the lambs represent. Relate this to the overall frame of the story and the character arcs (and the fates of these characters). Analyze why Cayetano and Sierva had the same dream.

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