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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. How does the scholarship boy use education?

2. What religious figure was very important in his parents' old church, but becomes less important in the new church?

3. As Rodriguez moves into graduate school, what does he realize about his education?

4. Where does Rodriguez find the description of the "scholarship boy"?

5. How does Rodriguez feel about his education?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rodriguez describe each language (Spanish and English) differently?

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

3. What do other people think of the "scholarship boy"?

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

5. What does Rodriguez identify as the pros and cons of bilingual education?

6. Why does Rodriguez talk about how the rich people pronounce his name?

7. How does Rodriguez describe himself as a student?

8. What does Rodriguez identify as the symbol of how these two versions of Catholicism intersect in his life?

9. How does learning to speak English change Rodriguez's mother? His father?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez's attitude about complexion was affected by the "Black is Beautiful" movement. This movement preached that people should accept themselves for who they are rather than trying to match a specific idealized image. At that time, the idealized image was inevitably the image of a white person, which made it difficult for non-whites to see themselves as beautiful.

Part One: What was Rodriguez's attitude about his complexion as a child? What did the people around him say about his complexion?

Part Two: Besides the "Black is Beautiful" movement, what other things changed Rodriguez's attitude about his complexion? How did his attitude change? What do the people around him say about his skin color now that he is an adult?

Essay Topic 2

Many books written by minority authors identify the discrimination, challenges, and disadvantages faced by people of that minority group or culture. Rodriguez does acknowledge some of those things, but for the most part, his story is remarkably positive about ethnicity. In some cases, he actually identifies his ethnicity as a benefit or an advantage.

Part One: Identify at least two places in the book where Rodriguez identifies some element of his ethnicity as an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

Part Two: As a reader, what do you think about his handling of the ethnicity issue? Is he making things sound better than they really are? Do you think other writers might make things sound worse than they really are?

Part Three: Which approach would you rather read? Do you think your opinion has anything to do with your ethnicity or your life experience?

Essay Topic 3

Rodriguez says that writing is difficult and writing about his family is very difficult. When he is younger, he makes up elaborate lies about his family. As an adult, he chooses to write this book about his family, which is intended to be a realistic portrayal of his relationship with them.

Part One: If writing is difficult and he does it anyway, what does that tell you about what he has to say?

Part Two: Why is writing about his family more difficult than other types of writing? Why did he lie about his family when he was younger? Is he telling the truth about them now? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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