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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. Before leaving Mahmoud and his family so they can get some sleep, what item does the boy tell them they must procure before the next leg of their trip?

2. What is NOT a way in which Josef's father has changed since being imprisoned in a concentration camp?

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

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

5. Ivan's favorite team, The Industriales, is what type of team?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What are the only items that Isabel and the other passengers on the tiny boat have room to bring with them on the journey to Florida from Cuba?

3. How does the author go about portraying Mahmoud as an empathetic soul?

4. How is the the ship Josef's family boards shown by the author to be paradoxical?

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

6. How does Josef feel about invisibility?

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 revelation does Lito make to Isabel about Miami, Florida, at one moment in the journey?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Trace the characterization arc of one of the three major characters in the novel. Discuss whether your chosen character is a round or flat character and whether your chosen character is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's inclusion of one of the following motifs within the novel: sound, images of leaders' faces, or music.

Essay Topic 3

Look carefully at the passages of the novel that describe the close relationship between Mahmoud and Waleed. What is the author's purpose for discussing at length the nature of these two siblings' connection?

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