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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. Ruben Dario was an artist from Nicaragua who created what type of art?

2. Jimenez tells the reader that his friendship with Rafael had helped him to understand which of his family members more completely?

3. How old was Francisco's sibling at the time of contracting an illness while the family lived in Tent City?

4. The night Francisco was dropped off at Roberto's house, who visited unexpectedly?

5. Francisco stormed out of a Sodality meeting as a result of hearing what kinds of comments?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons did Rafael Hernandez give Jimenez for his decision to return to Mexico?

2. What major obstacle did Jimenez face upon returning to the University of Santa Clara to begin his sophomore year and how did he overcome it?

3. What event caused Jimenez and Laura to have to spend more time together after they strike up an acquaintance?

4. What parallel does Jimenez draw between regression and oppression in the scene of his father's drunken tirade?

5. What motivation drove Jimenez to try to teach himself how to pick cotton at the age of six?

6. What major secret of his own did Jimenez reveal to Laura in the chapter entitled "A Secret Revealed"?

7. In which two ways was Laura different than every other student in the Latin American Literature class?

8. Discuss an instance when Jimenez uses a literary device to underscore the theme of collectivism.

9. What alarming object tumbled out of the Jimenez patriarch's pocket just before the arrival of the police?

10. Which classes constituted Jimenez's favorites during the first semester of his sophomore year?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine how Jimenez goes about connecting personal experience with the arguments put forth within Reaching Out. How does Jimenez accomplish this goal and how does this goal relate to the overarching themes of the text?

Essay Topic 2

What is Jimenez's message regarding a particular shift in worldview that needs to occur for a particular group of people and why?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Jimenez’s use of the motif of sound within the nonfiction work Reaching Out.

(see the answer keys)

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