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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. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what does the speaker "diagnose" herself and the reservation as?

2. In "The First Water Is the Body," what city's water crisis is specifically mentioned?

3. In "It Was the Animals," what does the speaker's brother tell her she can read about on the wood he has found?

4. In "The First Water Is the Body," what protest does the speaker mention?

5. In "Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?" what power does the speaker ascribe to the air?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what is the speaker's recurring dream?

2. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what is the rhetorical function of the lines: "I wanna rock, I-I wanna rock, I-I wanna rock/ right now" (37)?

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

4. In "I, Minotaur," to what plant does the speaker compare herself, and why?

5. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," how does the speaker claim to have been wounded, and what does she say causes the "hurt" of the wound?

6. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what is the double entente in the line, "as it rips down through the net, our enemies will fall to their wounded knees, with torn ACLs" (41)?

7. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what choice does the speaker say the Creator gave Indian peoples, and who chose each option?

8. In "It Was the Animals," what does the speaker's guest tell her the inscription is, and what is it in reality?

9. In "Waist and Sway," what temptation is the speaker trying to resist, and what is the outcome?

10. In "Snake-Light," what does the speaker say happens when the word "Hikwiir" is said aloud (84)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim regarding how the languages used in Postcolonial Love Poem support one of the book's key themes. Consider why English is the primary language of the poems and explain when and why non-English words are used. Use biographical research to find out what language(s) Diaz speaks, and consider this information in your argument. Use textual support for your claims, at least some of it quoted. Cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that analyzes the "wounds" motif in Postcolonial Love Poem. How do wounds function at both a literal and a symbolic level, and what positive function do poems in this collection seem to suggest wounds might serve? Be sure to support your analysis with evidence from at least five poems in the collection.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you defend, refute, or qualify the following statement: "Natalie Diaz's collection Postcolonial Love Poem celebrates the strength of Mojave culture." Be sure to support your claims with evidence from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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