View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. To what concentration camp is Josef's father sent whee he is taken into "protective custody" (3)?

3. Isabel's best friend Ivan is also her what?

4. When Isabel and the others are getting ready to start their journey in the boat, two police officers run toward them. Who do they turn out to be?

5. What is Josef's father's profession at the start of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

5. Of everyone in Mahmoud's family, who comes the closest to losing his or her life when the apartment is hit by a missile?

6. What qualities of Senor Castillo's lead to his role as the leader on the boat?

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

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

9. 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?

10. Why do Josef and the other kids on the ship tour become uneasy when they hear some members of the crew singing "The Horst Wessel Song" (95)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the theme of family bonds within the novel. What is the author's message regarding family bonds and how do you know?

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of The Individual versus Society is demonstrated within Alan Gratz's Refugee.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the novel Refugee from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,092 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample