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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 happens to Rodriguez as a result of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination?

2. What comment from a professor makes Rodriguez rethink his use of the label "minority student"?

3. What is Rodriguez aware of when he visits his rich friends?

4. What does Rodriguez tell his mother about talking to strangers?

5. What does Rodriguez's editor say about his idea for a book?

Short Essay Questions

1. Rodriguez looks at the students of the 1960s and 1970s from a teacher's perspective. What does he see as the difference between them?

2. How do Rodriguez's ideas about religion change as he grows up? How does his practice of religion change?

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

4. What does Rodriguez learn from working with the construction workers? Give two specific examples.

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

6. How does Rodriguez use the label "minority student"? How does he feel about it? Give specific reasons why he feels that way.

7. How does Rodriguez overcome his attitudes about dark skin? Give two specific examples.

8. What does Rodriguez decide to do about a job?

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

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

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 identifies with a student description in a textbook, the "scholarship boy." He feels that is a good representation of how he was as a student.

Part One: Describe the scholarship boy. Identify how that type of student is seen by the teacher, by fellow classmates, and how he sees himself. Identify why Rodriguez related to that description, and use specific examples to support your answer.

Part Two: Write a brief description of the kind of student you are. Identify how that type of student is seen by the teacher, by fellow classmates, and how he/she sees himself/herself. Compare and contrast your description with that of the scholarship boy.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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