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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. Why is Lito alarmed when a passenger shoots at the sharks in the water with his pistol?

2. In what activity are Isabel and the other boat passengers engaging when Ivan is attacked by a shark?

3. After Amara and Isabel's action that reduces the drag on the boat, who tells them that they have doomed every passenger on the boat?

4. What is NOT one thing Josef realizes just after his father's rescue from the ocean?

5. Who pulls Isabel hurriedly into the boat in order to save her from being attacked by the shark who has bitten Ivan?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reasons does Lito take on the role of leading Ivan's funeral ceremony?

2. 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?

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

4. How are the roles of father and son reversed within the scene when Schiendick leaves Josef and his family alone in their cabin after tormenting them?

5. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

6. Why does Isabel not want to look at the face of her dead best friend Ivan?

7. What reaction do the other passengers of the MS St. Louis have to Renata and Evelyne being allowed to leave the ship to join their father?

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

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

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within the novel and what is the author's message regarding these themes?

(see the answer keys)

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