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. How does Rodriguez get involved in his church?

2. As Rodriguez moves into college and graduate school, how does his relationship with his parents change?

3. In The Achievement of Desire, Chapter 4, how does Rodriguez describe his relationship with his parents?

4. How does a scholarship boy form his own ideas or opinions?

5. What do fellow students think of the scholarship boy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is special or different about the school Rodriguez attends? How does that affect him later in life?

2. How does Rodriguez describe himself as a student?

3. What does Rodriguez describe as the differences between Mexican Catholicism and English Catholicism? Identify two characteristics of each.

4. How does Rodriguez view his parents' use of English?

5. What is Rodriguez's initial attitude about reading? What happens to him because of that attitude? What do his parents think about reading?

6. What does Rodriguez suggest education does to the scholarship boy? Why does he say that?

7. How does Rodriguez respond when people ask him how he was successful in school? Is his answer completely honest? Why or why not?

8. How does Rodriguez feel about bilingual education?

9. Why is Rodriguez writing this book? Identify two reasons.

10. Is Rodriguez prepared for his first day of school? Why or why not?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Part One: Compare and contrast Rodriguez's childhood view of religion and his adult view of religion.

Part Two: Rodriguez acknowledges that the church itself changed some of its practices as he grew up. What effect did that have on his decision to stay Catholic? Did it encourage him to re-evaluate his religious beliefs and practices?

Essay Topic 2

Rodriguez spends a lot of time analyzing his education and how it affected him.

Part One: What lessons can a minority student draw from his story? What lessons can any student draw from his story?

Part Two: What lessons can the parent of a minority student draw from his story? What lessons can the parent of any student draw from his story?

Part Three: What lessons can the teachers of minority students draw from his story? What lessons can any teacher draw from his story?

Based on that, to what group(s) of people would you recommend this book? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Rodriguez is told that men behave in one way and women behave in another way. He is embarrassed because based on those standards, he acts more like a woman than a man.

Part One: How does Rodriguez's family define male and female behavior? Why do you think they have those opinions?

Part Two: Do the characters in the book follow those guidelines for male and female behavior? What happens to characters who do not follow the guidelines? What happens to characters who do follow the guidelines? What is Rodriguez saying about gender roles?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 974 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample