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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. While trying not to look at Ivan's lifeless body, Isabel thinks about the fact that who has "Ivan's blood all over him" (224)?
(a) President Bill Clinton.
(b) Senor Castillo.
(c) Fidel Castro.
(d) President Bru.

2. When the head of the ship's committee tells the passengers that the ship will be heading back to Europe, what are the two phrases chanted by the passengers?
(a) "We won't give up" and "We will not die."
(b) "Set us free" and "Do the right thing."
(c) "Set us free or pay the price" and "Freedom now."
(d) "We will not die" and "We will not return."

3. When Josef's father is in the throes of a mental breakdown, he tells Josef that each night at the concentration camp, the prisoners were forced to watch one prisoner do what?
(a) Drown.
(b) Be buried alive.
(c) Burn.
(d) Commit suicide by gunshot.

4. When Mahmoud and his family reach the border of Hungary, what are the Hungarian soldiers doing?
(a) Loading their weapons.
(b) Building a fence.
(c) Putting on riot gear.
(d) Sewing red armbands.

5. Why is Lito alarmed when a passenger shoots at the sharks in the water with his pistol?
(a) Lito thinks that Luis looks like he is having a mental breakdown.
(b) Lito is worried that the sharks' blood will bring a greater number of sharks.
(c) Lito is worried that in his anger, Luis will hit a passenger by mistake.
(d) Lito does not want the group to waste their bullets.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Isabel do just before Ivan's body is buried at sea?

2. What words does Josef's father scream throughout his rescue from the ocean?

3. When Mahmoud cries with "exhaustion and misery" (192) while floating in the sea and wants "to do it all over again," what is NOT something he includes on the list of things he would do differently?

4. Why is Belgrade, Serbia an unsafe place for Mahmoud and his family?

5. What island is the intended destination when Mahmoud and his family set out on the rubber dinghy?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Isabel realizes that each part of the journey has been like the verse of a song, what results does she come up with when thinking of the various verses the song would include?

2. For what purpose does Josef leave his father Aaron alone in the family's cabin when his mother is asleep?

3. What is the reason given for the firemen on the ship engaging in bad behavior while the ship is docked in Cuba and what are they said to be doing?

4. Though the narrator states that a few of the refugees Mahmoud sees when boarding the dinghy have backpacks or plastic bags, how are most of the refugees carrying their belongings?

5. How are the roles of father and son reversed within the scene when Schiendick leaves Josef and his family alone in their cabin after tormenting them?

6. How does Josef's mother's plan for getting a sleeping potion for her husband Aaron go awry?

7. What details does Isabel remember about her grandmother Lita's death?

8. What reaction do the other passengers of the MS St. Louis have to Renata and Evelyne being allowed to leave the ship to join their father?

9. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

10. What happens to Mahmoud's family on the way from Belgrade to the Hungarian border?

(see the answer keys)

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