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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. At what did Manuel point to when he asked Manny, "Don't you think I know people like this?" (47)?

2. Where did Rebecca find Manuel hiding within the confines of the pool hall?

3. When Manuel was trying to shoot Rebecca, what alerted Manny to the fact that the police had arrived?

4. Why did Nardo get fired from his busboy job?

5. Why did Rebecca keep looking back over her shoulder when she was taking Manny home from the pool hall?

Short Essay Questions

1. What emotions did Nardo display while he watched the Mexican man pick peppers in the row next to his?

2. What is significant about how Rebecca behaved during the scene in which the police came into the Hernandez's home?

3. Why was it so uncomfortable for Manny to be within the weighing area where the chili peppers were weighed out for measuring how much each person would be paid?

4. Why was Manuel immediately furious when he saw Manny get out of Mr. Hart's car?

5. What kind of relationship did Manny's father and mother have?

6. How did Mr. Hart give Manny $20 even though Manny had refused it?

7. Why did Mr. Hart take a roundabout way when he took Manny home?

8. How does the theme of "otherness" emerge within the aftermath of the Immigration officers' removal of the illegal immigrants from the field?

9. What caused Rebecca to think that Manuel was somewhere in the pool hall even though Rico told her that Manuel had gone home?

10. What is ironic about Nardo being the one that "jeered at the [Immigration] officers" the loudest as the people were led away and put into vans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the topic of work within the novel. Look at Manny's description of inheriting his grandfather Ignacio's "useful blood" (6) and the contrasting attitudes toward work displayed by Nardo and Manuel. Look also at other discussions of work and ambition in the novel, such as Manny's pronouncement of Albert's risky decision to join the boxing team since he was academically inclined, and pull concrete details from those examples to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the theme of trust within the novel, particularly in relation to the novel's title. What is the author's message regarding trust and how do you know? Use specific concrete details from the novel to support your claim.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the African-American newspaper man's decision not to tell the police that Manny was an accomplice in Eddie's robbery of the woman outside the bank. Why does he make that decision and how do you know? In terms of traditional Western morality, what his decision just? Back up your points with quotes from the robbery scene.

(see the answer keys)

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