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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 the seller of alcoholic beverages offer the priest?

2. What does the mestizo tell the priest?

3. What is going through the stranger's head as he walks with the boy?

4. What is the priests reaction when Maria tells him Brigetta was one of the children he saw in the village?

5. Who is the last priest on the run from the police?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the priest accidentally bumps into a red shirt in the cantina?

2. Back at the banana plantation, how does Greene emphasize the character of Coral Fellows?

3. Coral Fellows presents a reaction to the lieutenant. Describe the conversation with her father.

4. In chapter two, how does Greene establish a deep-seated religious faith on the part of common citizens?

5. How do Mr. Trench and the priest meet?

6. Describe the characters of the Police Chief and the lieutenant as seen in the cantina.

7. Why is he not welcome in his home town?

8. All that is left of the church is a priest who renounced his religion and the stranger, a whiskey priest. How does the woman's husband sum up their reality?

9. Describe the general situation as the novel opens.

10. The mother who reads religious stories to her children is important in the story. How does Greene use this family to punctuate the fact that the common people want the Church returned?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, the stories the mother reads to her children are about a young boy named Juan who grows up to become a priest and later a saint. The story runs in serial form throughout the novel. Write a paper about how this story parallels the life of the priest and ultimately changes the boy's attitude toward the Church.

Essay Topic 2

Greene contrasts the appearance of the Indian burial ground with the tidiness of the mass. The priest sees the burial ground as a shortcut to the dark and magical heart of faith. Write a paper giving your opinion on his meaning there. Include your idea on the necessity of religious trappings for people to be religious.

Essay Topic 3

The novel presents conflict and resolution throughout to keep the reader's attention. Write a paper on how conflict involves close encounters with fear and resolution involves hope, however fleeting. Explain why this method is so successful at making the reading compelling.

(see the answer keys)

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