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's sister's friend challenge his ideas about complexion?

2. Is Rodriguez's classmate as good a student as Rodriguez is?

3. What does Rodriguez learn about complexion from his family?

4. When Rodriguez applies for teaching jobs, what happens?

5. How do Rodriguez's friends affect his religious practices?

Short Essay Questions

1. As more minority students attend college, what does Rodriguez notice about their relationship to their culture? Give specific examples.

2. As a child, what does Rodriguez learn about dark skin?

3. What does Rodriguez think about the Civil Rights Movement?

4. How would Rodriguez change affirmative action? What examples does he offer to support his suggestion?

5. How do people respond to Rodriguez's skin color when he is younger?

6. How does Rodriguez describe the change in the Catholic Church that happens as he grows up?

7. What conversation does Rodriguez have with a colleague about teaching positions? What decision does Rodriguez make as a result of that conversation?

8. Why does Rodriguez's mother call him "Mr. Secrets"? In spite of his secretive behavior, what does Rodriguez believe she knows?

9. How does Rodriguez describe his mother's interaction with the public world? Give specific examples.

10. What does Rodriguez's mother tell him about writing about their family? What does his editor tell him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez claims that it is his education that made him successful. That is the reason he is writing this history of his education.

Part One: Find examples that prove his point. How is the person he is today a result of getting a good education?

Part Two: Find examples that disprove his point. What other advantages does he have (for example, where he lives, people he knows, personal characteristics) that could have led him to be successful even without a great education?

Part Three: Decide for yourself -- did Rodriguez's education make him successful? Explain your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Every book has flat and round characters. A flat character is two-dimensional, someone who serves a purpose in the book but does not seem like a living, breathing person. A round character is one who is fully developed and seems like a real person. If you read a story about a boyfriend and girlfriend eating dinner at a restaurant, the boyfriend and girlfriend will be round characters. The people at the next table or the waiter who serves them their food are probably flat characters.

Part One: Besides Richard Rodriguez, which characters in this book are round? In other words, which ones have fully developed characteristics and identities? Which ones do you feel like you really know? How big a role do these characters play in the book?

Part Two: Which characters are flat or two-dimensional? Do not try to list all of them, but pick out at least four characters that serve an important purpose, but still do not get fully developed. For example, how well developed is the priest who comes to visit? Or the group of black teenagers on the bus?

Part Three: Think as the author for a moment. Why did Rodriguez choose to make some important characters flat? Why did Rodriguez choose to make other important characters round? What does that say about the character or Rodriguez's relationship with the character?

Essay Topic 3

Rodriguez talks a lot about the difference between public and private language.

Part One: How does he define the difference between public and private language? Analyze what he is saying - don't just say that his public language is English and his private language is Spanish. What really defines the differences between the two types of language?

Part Two: Do people have to be bilingual to have a private language? Why or why not? Use examples from the book to support your argument.

Part Three: Are there times when two characters are speaking the same language but not really communicating or understanding each other? What does that say about private and public language?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,230 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample