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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 does Officer Padron do when the passengers of Josef's ship rush the ship ladder?

2. What major revelation does Isabel's mother make while the boat's passengers are waiting to see the lights of Miami?

3. Where does the Greek Coast Guard take Mahmoud and the other refugees at dawn once the boat is full of people?

4. In what location does Josef's mother spend all her time on the ship since leaving Cuba?

5. Who takes charge of performing the memorial service for Ivan before his body must be buried at sea?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. What occurs when Isabel and her family realize they have landed on the Bahamas?

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

4. What does Isabel mean when she thinks that "Fidel Castro has Ivan's blood all over him" (224)?

5. 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?

6. How does Mahmoud save his infant sister Hana from drowning after the family's dinghy bursts upon the rocks?

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

8. How do Mahmoud and his family reach the Serbian border on their journey fleeing Syria?

9. On the second day of Isabel's journey, it is said that it seems to Isabel and Ivan that everyone has a job but the two of them. What jobs are being handled by the others?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of literary devices such as metaphor, simile, and personification. How are literary devices used by the author in order to support and underscore particular themes and messages within the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how the author goes about building the readers' compassion for the refugees featured in the narrative.

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.

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