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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 Josef and the children are below deck during their ship tour, Schiendick and his friends begin to sing a song with anti-Semitic lyrics. What is the subject of the song?

2. Then narrator describes the fast-approaching tanker heading toward Isabel's boat as eventually getting so loud that it sounds like a what?

3. Who gives Mahmoud's father directions that will keep the family away from major sites of fighting?

4. Isabel's grandfather Lito makes her angry on the boat by telling her that her father is a what?

5. Who attacks the Josef and the other children with anti-Semitic abuse during their tour of the ship?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens the first two times Isabel's father tries to journey to America from Cuba?

2. How is irony employed within the author's choice of the material that lines Isabel's boat?

3. Compare and contrast Josef's thoughts about the ship's full speed with Captain Schroeder's comments about the ship's full speed.

4. How does Josef view the difference between life on the ship above decks and life on the ship below decks?

5. Why does Isabel feel awe in response to the riots in Cuba in addition to fear?

6. What is ironic about Josef's feelings following his bar mitzvah?

7. What does Mahmoud buy for his little brother Waleed at a shop in the Turkish refugee camp and what does he hope to achieve with his purchase?

8. What event is just about to happen when the motor of Isabel's family's boat splutters and dies?

9. How is Isabel's kitten used by the author to send a message about hunger and fear?

10. How does Josef feel about invisibility?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's choices to tell the story of Refugee using the third-person omniscient point of view and to focus on three different child refugees across the narrative. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to these choices and what is the author's intended effect on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

What is the author's message regarding motherhood and what themes does the author employ in order to send these messages to the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical essay about the novel while using the critical power theory lens of Marxist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the novel's treatment of issues such as class, socioeconomic status, and humanitarian aid.

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