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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. What does Mami say it is time for, once she puts a stop to the brewing argument on the boat?
(a) A water break.
(b) Paddling.
(c) A truce.
(d) Praying.

2. The narrator remarks that despite the number of dead bodies Mahmoud has seen, the experience of "seeing death" (180) never stops being what?
(a) Horrifying.
(b) Sad.
(c) Alarming.
(d) Deadening.

3. To what location does a taxi driver offer to drive Mahmoud and his family if they give him 24,000 Syrian pounds?
(a) Macedonia.
(b) Crete.
(c) Serbia.
(d) Lesbos.

4. Who takes charge of performing the memorial service for Ivan before his body must be buried at sea?
(a) Lito.
(b) Isabel.
(c) Senor Castillo.
(d) Senora Castillo.

5. The narrator states that Isabel had been so close to Ivan that he felt to her more like a what than like a best friend?
(a) A guardian angel.
(b) A brother.
(c) An uncle.
(d) A cousin.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who pulls Isabel hurriedly into the boat in order to save her from being attacked by the shark who has bitten Ivan?

2. What percentage of the adult fare does the smuggler engaged by Mahmoud's father charge for children and babies?

3. After Amara and Isabel's action that reduces the drag on the boat, who tells them that they have doomed every passenger on the boat?

4. What is the name of the man who saves Josef's father and is later celebrated for his heroism at a reception on the ship?

5. What does Mahmoud do to honor his deceased fellow passenger when he takes the man's life jacket and buries him at sea?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Josef's mother's plan for procuring a sleeping potion to help calm her husband Aaron down?

2. 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?

3. Whenever Mahmoud or his father wonder where Mahmoud's mother is, where do they inevitably find her and what is she doing?

4. 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?

5. What reason is given for why Isabel has never been to church?

6. What change occurs in Josef's mother's personality once the MS St. Louis leaves Cuba?

7. Why does Isabel not want to look at the face of her dead best friend Ivan?

8. For what reason does Dr. Aber, the father of Renata and Evelyne, tell the girls to disembark from the ship without bringing any of their belongings?

9. 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?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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