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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. What shared characteristic had bonded the Soviet Union to Cuba prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union?

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

3. What item does Josef's little sister Ruthie carry with her at all times?

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

5. What is the name of the ship Josef's family's boards?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mahmoud feel about invisibility?

2. What is the clave?

3. List some of Isabel's and the other boat passengers' expectations of what life will be like in America.

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

5. When Isabel and Ivan are incredulous that Lito had had many chances to leave Cuba over the years and had not done so, what reasons does Lito give for not leaving?

6. 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?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

How is the topic of revolution treated within the novel and how does its treatment relate to the book's depicted eras?

Discuss the author's messages about guilt and responsibility within the novel Refugee.

(see the answer keys)

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