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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. In "Snake-Light," what tradition does the speaker critique?
(a) Snake charming.
(b) Snake handling.
(c) Rattlesnake rodeos.
(d) Milking rattlesnake venom.

2. In "It Was the Animals," where does the speaker's brother claim to have gotten a piece of the ark?
(a) "The walkway" (59).
(b) "The girl" (59).
(c) "The walls" (59).
(d) ""The wood" (59).

3. In "The First Water Is the Body," what word does the speaker borrow from John Berger?
(a) "Channeled."
(b) "Pre-verbal."
(c) "Juxtaposition."
(d) "Submerge."

4. In "The First Water Is the Body," whom does the speaker call "The only red people I've ever seen" (46)?
(a) The Mojave.
(b) Communists.
(c) Sunburned tourists.
(d) Embarrassed politicians.

5. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what does the speaker "diagnose" herself and the reservation as?
(a) Dream-like.
(b) Dirty.
(c) Peaceful.
(d) Rusting.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what does the speaker say is the "first violence against any body of water" (64)?

2. In "Snake-Light," what is the rhetorical purpose of mentioning the butterflies?

3. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," who is mentioned as having stolen the Creator's heart?

4. In "I, Minotaur," what device is used in phrases like "love and what love becomes" and "appetite of your own appetite" (55)?

5. In "Waist and Sway," what causes the beloved to have a "honeyed" appearance?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Grief Work," what is the symbolic significance of the poem's final sequence in which the speaker and her beloved are in the river?

2. What is the setting of "Waist and Sway," and how is its setting unusual for this collection?

3. In what two senses can the title "My Brother, My Wound" be interpreted?

4. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," what does the speaker's brother request, and why?

5. In "The First Water Is the Body," what point does the speaker make about the limitations of words?

6. What two conceits are central to "If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert"?

7. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what story does the rock painting tell, and what is its significance to the speaker?

8. In "The First Water Is the Body," what specific concern does the speaker have about the Colorado River?

9. In "The First Water Is the Body," what are the speaker's concerns about explaining to a non-Indian audience that for her people, the river and the body are one thing?

10. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what does the guidebook say?

(see the answer keys)

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