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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. When the lieutenant arrives, why does he not recognize the priest?

2. Although there is no love between him and the woman, how does the priest feel about Brigetta, his daughter?

3. In the cantina, who is the man the priest bumps into?

4. How is the meeting between the priest and Brigetta?

5. How do the people respond to his reappearance in the village?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the scene in the town as Mr. Trench walks through it.

2. What is ominous about the parting of the priest and the mestizo?

3. Explain how Greene establishes the character of Father José.

4. In the village of the old man in a hammock, describe the request that is made of the priest.

5. After the priest on his mule crosses the river, what happens that is cause for alarm?

6. Describe the condition of Father José at that time.

7. What transpires in the police station the morning the stranger arrives in the town?

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Governmental prohibition of anything never works. In the novel, the government is trying to prohibit religion to the point of completely stamping it out. In a parallel example, hard liquor and wine are prohibited as well. Write a paper on how Greene uses this to subtly suggest the prohibition of religion will fail as well.

Essay Topic 3

Greene does not give names to the main characters in the novel, but he does name minor characters. How does that literary technique prevent the novel from being a simple tale of survival and give it a much larger message? To write this paper, you will need to cite instances where people are named and why that makes the story more real. You will also need to explain how not giving names to the central characters helps to make them symbolic of a much larger conflict.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,040 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample